Drabbles and Songfics
by kateflowrchild13
Summary: Drabbles and songfics about our favorite pairs! LOTS of ChristianXLissa and JillXEddie (because there is a SERIOUS lack of them on this website) and OF COURSE RoseXDimitri and SydneyXAdrian. Fluffy, some OOC and AU's but nothing too extreme. Mentions stuff from all books, including The Fiery Heart, so if you don't want spoilers, proceed with caution. R&Rs appreciated!
1. Write You A Song - Jill and Eddie

Eddie and Jill were fighting again.

This one was bad, everyone could tell. Eddie was actually sleeping in his apartment now, not in Jill's.

in the three years they had been dating, they hadn't had a fight as bad as this one.

They hadnt spoken in a week.

But when Jill returned to her apartment that night, she found note, and an iPod. "Play Me", the note said.

She popped in the earbuds an clicked play.

"...I can't give you the house you've been dreaming of. If I could I would build it alone.

...from the song you'll know that I can't go on without you

...don't believe in BEIN violent and cruel, don't know how to fight but I'll draw blood tonight if someone tries hurting you."

She listened to the rest and flipped the note over.

"Sorry about the fight. I said some things I shouldn't have. the song should say it all. I'm not good at this stuff.

But I can't go on without you. I love you so incredibly much. Forgive me?

PS: it'll be awkward guarding you if we break up. Just saying. You're stuck with me forever whether you like it or not.

-Eddie"

Jill smiled at the note. Eddie said he wasn't good at this stuff? He couldn't be more wrong.

She hurried down the hall and soon found herself at his door. She didn't knock.

She found him asleep, as he often did when off duty (usually with Jill in his arms). Without hesitation, she peeled back the covers and slid next to him.

He woke with a start, guardian reflexes in action.

"Just me." Jill murmured, curling into his chest.

"Damn, Jill, you scared me," he complained as he slid his stake back under his pillow.

"Sorry." She whispered. "I got your note."

He froze. "And? Am I forgiven."

"Only if you forgive me. I said some things I shouldn't have too."

He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her even tighter into his side. "Of course."

"I love you," she yawned. "The note and song? So romantic."

He kissed the top of her head. "I love you too. Why else would i do that?"

She laughed, and drifted off to sleep in his arms.

It was awhile before he slept. He just admired the girl in his arms and thanked his lucky stars that this princess had deemed him her knight in shining armor.


	2. The Lucky One - Jill and Eddie

Jill didn't feel very lucky.

And she knew she should. Wasn't it every girl's dream to find out she was a long lost princess? To ride into the sunset on a white steed with her knight in shining armor?

Well, maybe she never got the white steed bit, but Eddie was as good as a knight in shining armor.

But still. There were no fancy dresses or balls to attend. Just breakfast with her half sister, Queen Vasilisa and that was never pleasant. Just awkward.

Jill didn't HATE Lissa, she just felt... Like an obligation.

To be queen, Lissa needed a living relative, and that was Jill. Jill was just insurance, really, and served no other purpose. She was a political pawn, to be used when convenient.

She was kept in her room the rest of the time, under heavy guard. She would be visited, mostly by Adrian and occasionally Christian and Rose.

Eddie was with her almost 24/7, which was good.

They had finally gotten together back in Palm Springs, but they had to keep their relationship under wraps. Sure, dhampirs had relationships with their moroi charges, but not usually when the moroi in question was fifteen... Or the crown princess... Oh well. Eddie was eighteen. Three years were nothing compared to rose and Dimitri, set a whopping seven years apart.

But every day she got to spend with Eddie, in the privacy of her rooms, and they just sat and talked or watched TV or made out when the other guardians were gone.

Under Lissa'a orders, she was to be guarded at night too, but because their night was daylight, only guardian was necessary, and Eddie usually volunteered for that job.

"Honey, I'm home!" A voice called from the entryway, accompanied by the sound of a door opening and closing.

Eddie walked in, smiling, and swept her off the couch into his arms, the one place where Jill felt safest of all.

Yes, Jill smiled to herself. Maybe she was lucky after all.


	3. Arms - Lissa and Christian

**Song: Arms by Christina Perri**

Lissa loves waking up in Christian's arms. They're always snugly wrapped around her, and she's pressed against him, as close as possible. And when she opens her green eyes and sees his piercing blue ones watching her, she feels treasured. He loves her for her, not because of her status or name.

After her breakup with Aaron, she was always so cautious about people, except for Rose, of course.

She never thought Christian would be the one to hold all of her heart.

after the death of her parets and brother and the spirit taking its toll on her, she had trouble opening up to even Rose. She just... Felt like it was easy for people to leave her. So she cut herself off to a certain degree, put up walls around her mind that Rose couldn't see through and put on her perfect princess fascade.

The nice things was, Christian saw through it in a heartbeat.

He understood her pain, losing his family. But he was an outcast, and she'd never even considered looking at him twice, that's true.

But because HE looked twice and saw through everything, she pushed herself to look again, and she was amazed at what she found.

There was firstly anger. Lots of raw, burning anger. And then underneath all that anger, was pain. He never let anyone see it, only opening up to Lissa on extremely rare occasions. He had grief, grief over his parents and Tasha and grief from being shunned by everyone at school.

Love for him was a difficult emotion to process, but Lissa could tell that Christian loved her with his whole heart and soul. Maybe it was the way his eyes lit up when she entered the room, or how he agreed to stay in most nights to watch movies in her bed with her, eating pizza.

She loved his humor. He was funny, dryly funny, and his commentary on the films they watched could rival any critic's. He loved making her laugh, and she would laugh so hard that her sides would hurt and she forgot about being the queen. She loved how unguarded he was around her - that in itself was a testament to how much he trusted her.

And he could be surprisingly romantic, unexpectedly sweeping her off her feet at the strangest times. Sometimes when she woke up, he would be gone but he would leave her little gifts on the pillow - flowers, a quick note - and he'd return later and grin at her when he saw the flowers arranged in a vase.

He would surprise her with romantic dinners (he was quite the cook) and they would spend the rest of the evening tangled up in each other, and that was what he was best at, physically communicating his love.

At those moments, she saw the passion he hid too, and the tenderness he would touch and kiss her with.

But she knows he loves her the most when she wakes in his arms, and his icy blue eyes meet hers, and she can tell he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.


	4. You And I - Jill and Eddie

**Song: You and I by Ingrid Michaelson**

Eddie and Jill stared at the stack of bills on their kitchen counter.

"We have money for this... Right?" Jill asked.

Eddie bit his lip. "Um. Yes?"

Jill sighed and grabbed a calculator. "Lets hope."

Eddie sat down and tugged her into his lap as she added up bills. Finally, she sighed and pressed her face to the table. "Ugh. Do we really need water this month? We can go without it... Right?"

Eddie snorted and tightened his arms around his girlfriend. "We could always conserve water and shower together."

She lifted her head and grinned at him. "Sweetie, we already do."

Eddie playfully jabbed her in the side. "What about your water magic? Tht should save us some water."

"Yeah, you try saving enough water for two people. It's not easy."

"And defending you from strigoi isn't?"

Jill raised an eyebrow. "You didn't have to come with. I was all set to run away by myself."

Eddie shook his head firmly and pressed his face to her back. "That was not an option. You're not going anywhere without me to guard you."

"Oh, and this whole time I thought you came because you loved me."

Jill and eddie were on the run. They had returned to Court after Lissa passed the relative law, and Jill was no longer immediately useful to anyone at court. After months of sitting shut in her rooms, she and Eddie finally ditched court, but only after lots and lots of begging.

Her sixteenth birthday had come and gone, and so had eddies nineteenth. Eddie couldn't really argue she was a 'child', so he finally gave in, after she pulled the Crown Princess card and commanded him, after threatening to run away by herself.

Eddie gave in, and they left court the next day. Jill wanted to get far away as possible from court, so after hopping a plane to Chicago, they landed in O'Hare and went into the city from there. Jill would have liked to go to Boston or San Francisco, but Boston was too close to Court and they both decided that anywhere in California would be unsafe, on account of their previous stay in Palm Springs. Seattle was too close to Montana and St. Vlads, so they decided on Chicago. Down south was too sunny.

Jill sobered. "But seriously. We are either gonna have to survive on Cheerios this month or we just don't pay the water bill."

Eddie sighed. "I'll see if I can get more shifts this month." He worked as a mechanic, just across the street from where Jill worked as a waitress. It was close enough so that if she desperately needed him, he could be there in a heartbeat.

"Me too." She brushed her brown curls out of her face. "I'm sorry I dragged you out here. Maybe this was a bad idea."

"No, Jill," Eddie tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. "I came because I wanted to. We can do this. We'll get through this."

She smiled at him. "I am so lucky you're my guardian. If I had Dimitri or Rose, I'd still be stuck at Court, miserable." She pressed a kiss to his lips. "I'm so lucky I have you."

Later that night, as they spooned in bed, Eddie whispered in her ear, "we have our love to pay the bills. Isn't that enough?"

Jill smiled and squeezed his hand. "Of course. It's just you and I. That's all we need."

**AN: sorry for any spelling errors. I'm typing this on my iPod because I'm traveling and my laptop is half a country away. Cheers! Hope you like!**


	5. Safe and Sound - Rose and Dimitri

**Song: Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift**

**I know. Some of you don't like her, but I think this songs fits. Anyway, hope you like and please feel free to review!**

Dimitri's favorite part of the day is when he's able to come home to his Roza.

She's usually asleep by the time he enters their apartment, her long, beautiful hair splayed across the pillows.

He quickly changes and slides into bed beside her, pulling her close and tracing his hand down her side, memorizing her curves.

She shifts in her sleep and slides closer, never waking.

He can always comfortably sleep when she's there, not plagued by nightmares of being strigoi.

He'll wake up, and she will too, and sometimes she'll have to coax him back to sleep, wrapping her arms around him.

"Just close your eyes," she'll say, "you'll be alright. You and I will be safe and sound."

And sometimes he does, but other times he shrinks from her touch, the nightmares making him despise himself all over again.

"Dimitri," she'll say. she knows whats wrong immediately. "Dimka, it's alright. That wasn't you. I know it wasn't."

And sometimes it'll be awhile before he wraps her in his arms again. But she's always right. They'll wake up tangled together, safe and sound.


	6. Motorcycle - Sydney and Adrian

**Woo hoo another update! I'm on vacation and I have nothing better to do, so here it is! It's my first non-songfic, and I'll be sure to mention whether or not it's a songfic or just a Drabble in future chapters. So, without further ado, here is Motorcycle, featuring Sydney and Adrian.**

"Hey, Sage, have a surprise for you," Adrian said when Sydney answered the Love Phone.

"You know I hate surprises." She answered.

"Just come down. I'm outside." He hung up before she could say anything else.

Sydney sighed and grabbed her purse, wondering what kind of antics her boyfriend was up to.

When she left the dorm and walked outside, she was greeted with the sight of Adrian, clad in boots and leather jacket, leaning against a motorcycle.

"Hey, beautiful," he said, walking towards her. "Want to go for a ride?"

"No way. I am NOT getting on that thing."

He handed her a helmet. "Too bad. You're going, and don't tell me you can't because of Zoe, I know she's busy with a school field trip today."

Sydney sighed. "These things are death traps."

Adrian pulled on his own helmet and straddled the motorcycle. "You know I'd never let anything happen to you." He patted the seat behind him. "Come on, Sage. Live a little."

She sighed again before pulling the helmet on over her blonde hair and slid on behind him, thankful she had decided against wearing a skirt this morning. "I can't believe I'm doing this,"

"Ready?" Adrian murmured as he started the bike.

Sydney responded by wrapping her arms around his torso and pressed her face to the leather, squeezing her eyes shut. "Okay. Lets go."

They pulled out of the school's parking lot and then they were flying, down the street.

"Where did you even get this?" Sydney asked. Despite her fear, she marveled at the engine's power.

"A guy in my art class loaned it to me for the day. He wanted to borrow the Ivashkinator, and this is what he had to trade." He called over the wind.

"YOU GAVE HIM THE IVASHKINATOR?"

"Chill out, Sydney. He wanted to take it so he could one-up his brother at a family reunion."

"But what if he doesn't know how to drive stick? What if he can't use it properly?"

Adrian turned onto the highway. Sydney clutched at him tighter as he sped up.

"I guess this is a bad time to tell you that I don't know how to drive a motorcycle," Adrian called.

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope!"

She didn't bother to say anything, just prayed for the ride to be over as soon as possible.

"Open your eyes, Sydney," Adrian called. "Trust me!"

"No way!"

"Just do it!"

She cracked one eye open, then the other and lifted her head from his back.

She watched cars speed by, impossibly close, and flinched.

"Calm down, we're fine." Adrian said as he exited off the highway and onto a side county road.

She let loose a small sigh of relief as they slowed down and coasted down the road, lined with trees on each side.

"See? This isn't so bad," Adrian said.

She didn't answer, just let him drive. Sydney gradually relaxed as they sped through the Californian countryside, feeling the warm sun on her back and the wind in her hair.

Eventually, they rolled to a stop and Adrian got off, holding out his hand to help Sydney.

"Where are we?" She asked, pulling off her helmet. "Why are we stopping?"

Adrian kissed her. "All in good time, Sage."

He took her hand and they walked until they came to a picnic blanket laid out, set with a basket.

"Oh, Adrian..." Sydney trailed off.

"Hungry?" He asked, pulling out a chicken salad.

They sat and ate, and when they were done, Adrian grinned suggestively.

"How about dessert?"

Sydney glanced in the basket. "I don't see any in here."

"Not that kind." He leaned over and kissed her.

Sydney laughed. "You know, I like you in leather."

He grinned and tossed the jacket aside. "Trust me, Sage. You'll like me without it, too."

Well, she couldn't argue with that logic.


	7. Ours - Lissa and Christian

**Song: Ours by Taylor Swift.**

**Her songs are just so nice and fluffy. Well, here's another Lissa/Christian and please excuse any errors. Typing on an iPod is hard! As always, please review! And if you have any suggestions for drabbles or requests, please feel free to tell me! I always love hearing from you guys. **

Lissa clasped Christian's hand tightly as they walked down the school hallway, ignoring the looks people gave them.

She knew what they were thinking. What was Princess Vasilia Dragomir doing with outcast Christian Ozera?

She rolled her eyes to herself. They needed a new hobby if they were spending their time judging them.

"You okay with this?" Christian asked, noticing the looks from their fellow classmates.

Lissa nodded. "They're just losers. I should know, I've spend enough time with them."

Christian laughed and dropped her hand to wrap his arm around her. She smiled at him, contentedly. She didn't care what everyone else thought. Christian made her HAPPY.

But when they neared Mia Rinaldi and Aaron, she sobered.

Christian didn't miss it, and just pulled her tighter into his side. "Don't worry about them," he said. "People throw rocks at things that shine."

Lissa smiled gratefully at him.

"Sinking a bit low, princess?" Mia called.

"You'd know," Christian shot back. "You're dating her ex."

The speechless rage on Mia's face was enough to make Lissa laugh. She fought to hide as a cough behind her hand. It didn't work.

Mia sneered. "Really? I'm not the one sleeping with the Strigoi Lover."

The shock and hurt on Christian's face was enough to prompt Lissa to respond without hesitation.

"That's not funny, Mia. You don't know anything about us, and you certainly don't know anything about Christian. You try having your family killed in front of you before you start throwing names around."

Lissa grabbed Christian's wrist and stormed past.

"You didn't have to do that," Christian said.

"Yes, I did," Lissa seethed. "She's awful."

"I know." Christian quieted, then pulled her in for a hug. "Thanks," he whispered.

She smiled at him and kissed him. "It's like you said. People throw rocks at things that shine. But you're worth it."

"You too," he smiled at her.

"Hey, no necking in the hallway!" A voice called. Lissa turned to see Rose grinning at them good-naturedly.

The stakes were high and the waters were rough, but maybe the WHOLE world wasn't against them. And maybe, just maybe, they could make it work.


	8. 80's Music - Rose and Dimitri

**This one isn't a songfic, just a Drabble. Enjoy! Reviews appreciated! And thanks to the two of you who kindly favorited this! It's always great to see people liking my stuff.**

Rose almost groaned as Dimitri turned on the radio and immediately tuned it to the 80's station. She couldn't understand how her mentor could stand to listen to shitty music all day.

"Comrade," she complained while they were stretching. "Can't we listen to something else? Old people listen to this music."

He chuckled and ignored her.

She rolled her eyes. "I mean, come on, if you're gonna listen to ancient music at least make it decent!"

This time, he took the bait. "And what is your idea of good music?"

"I thought you would never ask." Rose was up in a flash and jogged to her bag, pulling a CD out.

"Here you go, comrade. Merry Christmas."

He couldn't help himself; he smiled. "Christmas isn't for another month."

"Then it's my early present to you. Happy Thanksgiving."

Dimitri just shook his head and sighed.

They went through their session without incident, and when Rose went to change, Dimitri looked again at the CD.

There was a note that had been taped to the front.

_Some GOOD old music mixed with some good new music. Enjoy._

_-Rose_

He popped the CD into his CD player and hit play.

Bob Dylan's voice crooned from the speakers. "You must leave now, take what you need, think will last..."

Inside the changing room, Rose heard the CD player start up and peeked around the door to the gym.

She watched, amused, as Dimitri started to bob his head gently to the beat. And then she had to stifle her giggles when he began to dance.

And he sucked at dancing. Like flailing limbs, awkwardly shuffling, head banging kind of dancing.

Rose had no idea how someone usually so graceful could be so dorky, and still be so attractive. But she just watched him dance, and slinked away, smiling to herself, glad she had finally educated her mentor in decent music.

Dimitri continued to dance, not knowing he was being watched, and jammed out to the entire CD. He smiled as he took it out of the CD player and went to go change. His favorite song on the CD, he thought, was Brown Eyed Girl, because every time he thought of brown eyes, he thought of Rose.

**AN: Hey guys! This is the mix I had in mind for Dimitri when I pulled it together, just in case you wanted to know:**

**-Radioactive by Imagine Dragons**

**-Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones**

**-Twist and Shout by The Beatles**

**-Hard Days Night by The Beatles**

**-American Pie by Don McClean**

**-It's All Over Now, Baby Blue by Bob Dylan**

**-Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison**

**-Gold on the Ceiling by The Black Keys**

**-Little Black Submarines by The Black Keys**

**-Born to be Wild by Steppenwolf**

**-Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi**


	9. He's Got it Bad - Rose and Dimitri

**Song: He's Got It Bad by Dominique Pruitt**

**Hope you like! **

"A tall dark stranger will fall for you hopelessly." The psychic said, peering at the cards that lay between her and Rose. "He will be your destiny."

Rose didn't believe in psychics. Lissa had dragged her along to a carnival, and thought it would be fun if they both went to get their fortunes told.

Lissa had been told she would become a powerful and admired leader.

Rose just scoffed. Leader? They were on the run. Who had time for becoming powerful?

The fortune teller nodded to Rose. "He's got it bad. Or, he'll HAVE it bad, dearie. You have a great love in your future."

Rose rolled her eyes, sighed, and paid the woman and left the tent quickly.

Love was the last thing she had on her mind. Right now, she had to focus on protecting Lissa.

***one year later***

Rose glanced across the room at the other guardians, Dimitri in particular. She met his eyes, and was taken aback by the passion that burned brightly within his brown eyes, and briefly remembered the psychic's words, all those months ago when she and Lissa were on the run.

A tall dark stranger...

But Dimitri wasnt a stranger. Or was he? She only knew him when he was her mentor. Nothing else.

But his eyes...

She met them with hers again, steadily. The electricity that crackled between them was almost palpable.

Maybe the psychic was right.

Maybe he's got it bad.


	10. Carry On Wayward Son - Sydney and Adrian

**Song: Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas**

**If you haven't read The Fiery Heart and you don't want a spoiler, don't read this!**

Adrian chucked the bottle into the corner or the room and sighed.

The spirit was getting to him again. He missed Sydney, so much.

And with every bottle he drank, he felt worse and worse. He was breaking their deal. But she wasn't here to know, was she?

That thought prompted him to open another bottle of beer.

Part of him felt bad because he was smothering the spirit; without it, he couldn't link to her dreams. But with it, he felt like his head was going to explode.

Poor Jill was probably going to wake up extremely hungover and it was going to be all his fault. Well, this way she didn't have to get all his grief.

He spent every day worrying about Sydney and spent every night staying awake, trying to communicate through spirit dreams.

So far, nothing. He wasn't sure if she was in so deep a sleep that she wasn't dreaming or they weren't letting her sleep.

"Or she's dead," a voice whispered in his mind.

He immediately quashed the thought. No, they had come too far and had been through too much for her to be dead. If she was dead, then he might as well be dead too.

_Where are you, Sydney? _He thought miserably._ I need you._

He summoned the spirit, reaching for it through the fog caused by the alcohol.

He closed his eyes._ Sydney, where are you..._

Miles away, Sydney, asleep, felt the brush of his mind against hers. _Adrian?_

_Sydney? Thank God..._ He faded in and out. _Where are you? I miss you so much..._

_Don't know. I've been put in a center for reeducation..._

_Sydney, we're coming for you, I swear..._

_I know. Are you alright? The connection's fuzzy..._

He paused. _I haven't slept in days._

_Adrian, you need to sleep!_

_Don't worry about me, Sydney. I'll be fine._

The fuzziness threatened to break up the connection.

_You need to rest. You're weary. Lay down and sleep._

He wanted so badly to listen. _I'm not leaving you, Sydney._

_Adrian, it's ok. You need to sleep. Just... Carry on. Sleep. I know you'll find me._

_I love you_. His voice murmured in her head.

_I love you, too... _Her voice trailed off in his head, until he could sense her no more.

**Aww, a little Sydrian angst! Shaking it up! And my dear Mori Belicov Hathaway THANK YOU FOR THE FIRST REVIEW! Keep them coming, people! I love your feedback!**


	11. Vacation - Rose and Dimitri

**I'M BACK! I'm home, with my laptop and everything, so yay, no more spelling errors. This isn't a songfic, just a drabble. Enjoy! Read and review!**

Rose and Dimitri were on vacation, by order of the Queen, and they were required to travel somewhere outside of Pennsylvania.

They had decided on Boston. It was close enough that they could be home in two hours in case of an emergency and still have fun.

Dimitri hadn't been there before, but Rose had. She and Lissa had made a stop there while on the run.

Their first day there, Rose elected to go into the city and walk around.

"Come on, Comrade!" She called, dashing ahead. She loved the city; loved the hustle and bustle of all the people. Everyone had a story, and she wondered about each one.

Dimitri smiled at her and chuckled, enjoying her childlike wonder at the city.

She sighed to herself. That was _so_ Dimitri, to just watch her and laugh to himself. He never had any fun.

She chewed her lip, wondering how to get him to let loose and full on laugh.

_Well, alcohol usually does the trick with people,_ she mused, looking back at her Russian. _But I'm not sure that will work with this one... _

But still. It was worth a try.

She slipped her had into his. "Hungry? I know a good place for dinner."

Dimitri kissed her knuckles. "Whatever you want, Roza."

She ended up bringing him to an Irish bar she and Lissa had frequented while on the run, where they would search for quiet drunks who wouldn't mind being bitten for blood.

"Hey, Rosie!" A voice called from behind the bar.

"Owen!" She ran up to hug the twenty three year old, leaning across the bar. "How are you?"

He grinned. He was good looking, with flaming red hair, freckles, and hazel eyes. He had the accent to match the hair. "I'm fine, love. How are you? We haven't seen ya for a while now! Where ya been?"

She shrugged. "Here and there."

"Where's Lissy?"

Rose smirked. He had been in love with Lissa, showering her with free drinks, compliments, and moony eyed gazes.

"She's busy on vacation with her boyfriend."

His face fell. "Ah, well. That was bound to happen, a pretty lass like her."

Rose laughed. "She only tolerated your advanced because I liked the free drinks."

He grinned. "Did you? Well, since it's _you_, I think I could get you more."

"Me and my friend?"

"Sure, her too."

Rose smirked at him and pulled Dimitri forward. "Owen, meet my boyfriend, Dimitri."

Dimitri stared him down.

The blood drained from Owen's face. "Erm... Nice to meet you," he stammered. "Name's Owen." He limply put his hand out to shake, as if he were afraid Dimitri would bite it off.

Rose smiled to herself. Dimitri could do worse to him than bite it off.

Dimitri coolly shook his hand, then wrapped an arm around Rose, pulling her firmly into his side. "Dimitri Belikov. I take it you know my Roza well?"

_He's jealous,_ Rose realized. _Insanely jealous._

She immediately felt bad. Dimitri knew he held all of her heart, didn't he?

And yet...

Dimitri was staring at Owen as if he had just caught Owen kicking a puppy or stealing from a child.

_Oh, Jeez,_ Rose thought. _I hope this doesn't come to blows._

"Liss and I spent some time here and we all became friends," Rose said. She wrapped her arms around his torso and rested her head against his chest, still turned towards Owen.

Dimitri relaxed a bit at her touch, but still glared at Owen.

"Yeah, friends, you know. A bartender gets familiar with their regulars." Owen stammered.

"Regulars?" Dimitri shot rose a look saying 'you will tell me about this later' and she sighed. "You mean you served alcohol to two underage girls on a regular basis?"

"Dimitri, I think we should go sit down and order something to eat," Rose said, tugging his arm.

"Underage? Nah, man, they had ID's. You're twenty two, right Rose?"

She froze. "Um."

"She's eighteen," Dimitri said. "Maybe check your ID's for fakes before you serve someone alcohol."

Owen turned to Rose. "You're eighteen? Now? So you were like... _sixteen_ back then? _Both_ of you?" Even more blood drained from his face, if it was possible. Dimitri just glared steadily.

Rose had finally had enough and tugged Dimitri away to a corner table.

"What are you doing?" She hissed. "Don't lecture the poor guy!"

"Roza, he was stupid enough to give free alcohol to two sixteen year old girls, both of which he made passes at, like tonight!"

"He did not make a pass at me!"

"And a free drink _isn't_ an example of a romantic advance?"

Rose paused. "Well, okay, so he did that a lot. And yeah, I liked the free drinks. But I didn't every date him or anything like that! And he was hyper focused on Lissa, so of course I had to _try_ and keep his attention off of her."

Dimitri sighed and sat down. "I don't like him."

Rose smirked. "I didn't expect you to. But he looks terrified now. I think he peed himself."

Dimitri didn't smile.

Rose sighed and climbed into his lap. "I'm sorry, Dimka. I just wanted you to let loose, have fun."

"I am having fun." He automatically wrapped his arms tightly around her waist.

"Dimitri. You're almost twenty-five years old. Most twenty five year olds spend their Saturday nights playing beer pong and watching football. They don't sit around reading westerns, listening to old crappy music and lecturing their girlfriends."

Dimitri shrugged. "Well, I'm not most twenty five year olds."

"Yeah, you're more like a 100 year old zen master."

That got Dimitri to smile, and rose considered it a victory. "But even Zen masters have to let go every once in awhile. And this is one of those times." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Come on. We're in love. We're on vacation. Lets have _fun_."

Dimitri pressed his lips to the side of her head, running his fingers through her hair. "Alright, Roza. But tomorrow, it's _my _turndecide how we're having fun."

"That's fair, I guess," she conceded, leaning in for a kiss.

"More than fair," he murmured against her lips. "I was planning on 'letting loose' tonight at the hotel as well."

Rose stared at him, and smiled when she saw the twinkle in his eye. "You know, maybe we don't _have_ to eat right now..."

"My thoughts exactly," Dimitri said, picking her up and together they left the restaurant, to have some 'fun' by themselves.


	12. Dance me to the End of Love-Jill Eddie

Jill had begged Eddie to take her camping. She complained about being bored in Palm Springs, and when Spring Break rolled around, he agreed, on the condition that Angeline would come too. Thing was, Angeline would only go if she could bring Trey, and Eddie sighed before agreeing. Trey was a good fighter with a sword, and he knew how to handle Strigoi.

So they drove out to the country, about an hour away from the school, and set up camp in a small wood, 'forgetting' to tell Sydney and Adrian where exactly they were going. Jill left a note, because she knew Sydney would say no if they asked. She told her not to worry, she had Eddie, Angeline, and Trey with her and they would be back in two days. Besides, she had an inkling that Sydney and Adrian wouldn't mind the alone time.

That night, they roasted s'mores around the campfire and Jill grinned. "I've never done this before. This is amazing."

Eddie smiled next to her and pointed at the sky. "Ever been stargazing?"

"Nope. Not even at St. Vlads." That was obvious. Stars to vampires were like clouds to humans; they were just there. You didn't notice them until you actually slowed down and took an hour to look.

"We do that all the time back with the Keepers," Angeline piped up. "I know all the constellations. We make up stories about them."

"The Warriors have their own lore about the stars," Trey said thoughtfully.

"I only know the obvious ones, like the North Star, the Big and Little Dipper, and Orion's Belt," Jill said.

"Well that one is Ursa Major," Eddie pointed, "and that's Ursa Minor."

Jill stared, following the path his finger outlined. "I only see a bunch of stars."

"They're supposed to look like bears."

Jill slowly shook her head. "No dice."

Eddie laughed and scooted closer on the log. "Here." He took her hand and helped her outline the constellation with her finger. "See it now?"

She wrinkled her nose and squinted.

Angeline and Trey saw it, and were arguing over whether it was called Ursa Major or Fat Bear. Angeline was adamant about her Keeper culture and stubbornly said it was Fat Bear.

"It's the bear before he hibernates. He has to eat a lot." Angeline said to Trey.

"Ursa Major is the name," he countered. "And I'm pretty sure stars don't hibernate."

Angeline gave him an exasperated look. "I know stars don't hibernate. But why else would a bear eat so much?"

Eddie glanced at Jill and they both cracked up.

Jill sighed and stood. "I need to go wash my hands off in the lake."

Eddie stood too, giving her a look that said 'you're not going anywhere without me.'

Jill was secretly pleased. She didn't want to have to walk through the dark to get to the lake all by herself. She didn't mind the dark; she minded the stuff that lurked within it, hidden from sight. And of course, she was thrilled Eddie was coming along.

As they left the circle of light the campfire gave off, Jill shivered and rubbed her arms. Even in California, it got chilly at night.

"Are you cold?" Eddie asked.

"A little."

Eddie didn't hesitate to pull off his sweatshirt and hand it to her. "Here you go, princess."

She raised an eyebrow. "I hope that was a playful use of my title."

Eddie hesitated. "But you _are_ a princess." With their status of friends, he was always unsure of how to address her. She was firstly his Moroi charge, but then she became his friend.

Jill rolled her eyes and pulled on the sweatshirt, partly reveling in the warmth and partly ecstatic that it was Eddie's. "Neil calls me 'Princess'. Only stuffy politicians at court and suck up Moroi and suffocatingly formal guardians like Neil call me 'Princess'. I don't feel like a princess, though. I'm just _Jill_."

Eddie smiled. "Fine, 'Just Jill'."

"Exactly."

The lake was beautiful; the reflection of the moon and stars shone on the water. Jill dipped her hands in and breathed a sigh of contentment. In the desert of Palm Springs, this little oasis was a pleasant surprise.

"Want to see a trick?" She asked Eddie. "I've been working on it for awhile."

He nodded, curious.

Jill stretched her hands out toward the water and concentrated. A ball of water rose from the lake, hovering. Jill concentrated even harder, and it burst, the raindrops turning to snow as they drifted back to the water's surface.

"That's incredible," Eddie breathed. He'd missed snow.

Jill laughed at his enthusiasm. "I missed the snow so badly I figured out how to make it."

They started walking back to the campfire.

"You figured that out all by yourself?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah. Well, Mia Rinaldi taught me some stuff back at court, but the snow part was my addition. She just taught me how to freeze water."

They reentered the warm light of the campfire, and saw Angeline and Trey, making out. They had apparently resolved their argument and were moving onto other things.

"Guys, really?" Eddie complained.

Jill averted her eyes. "Um. Yeah. I'm going to bed now. Night everyone!" She crawled into her tent, waving goodnight to Eddie.

She had just settled in when Eddie unzipped the tent, holding his sleeping bag.

"Trey and Angeline kicked me out," he muttered.

Jill rolled her eyes. "Of course she snuck in there."

"Snuck? More like _busted_. She's less discreet than a herd of stampeding elephants."

Jill laughed. "So you need a place to stay, huh?"

Eddie shrugged. He hoped his face wasn't turning red. "I'd figure I'd sleep outside your tent. I'd be closer anyhow, in case you needed anything."

Jill shook her head. "Uh, uh. Too cold out. Come on in; it's a jumbo tent anyways. Angeline's a _really_ restless sleeper, so we went with the big tent so she could have her own space. You'll fit."

Eddie hesitated. "You're sure?"

Jill nodded. "I can't have my best guardian freeze to death on my account."

Eddie laughed and crawled inside. Jill was right; the tent _was_ roomy. It was just big enough for the both of them.

Jill sat cross-legged on her sleeping bag and looked at Eddie. "So."

He sat and stared back. "So?"

"So... How are you? We never talk."

"We talk."

Jill rolled her eyes. "At school, yeah, but only at lunch. At Clarence's, maybe, but Zoe or Sydney or Adrian's there too. We never get to have a conversation, just the two of us."

Eddie blinked, taken aback at her boldness, then felt something stir inside him. Was it... Happiness? It was. Jill wanted to have a conversation with him, _just_ him. _She's the princess, _he reminded himself. _So don't get your hopes up so high._

Jill blinked her jade green eyes at him. "So. Camping. Constellations. Who taught you? How do you know so much?"

Eddie smiled. "My dad. He would come by during summer sometimes, when he wasn't on guardian duty and take me camping for two or three days. It was great. He taught me all the constellations, how to navigate using the stars, how to start a fire with just two sticks... Camping with him was like Wilderness Survival 101. It was great."

Jill nodded for him to continue.

"And we'd hang out and he had this beat up guitar that he'd gotten back in the eighties and he'd play campfire songs on it..." Eddie trailed off, a half smile on his face. "He taught me to play, too."

"Really?" Jill asked, intrigued. "I've always wanted to learn to play guitar. My stepdad can, but I'm never home long enough for him to give me a proper lesson." Jill sobered at the thought of home. She missed her mom, her stepdad, everyone.

Eddie didn't miss that look. "Hang on. I'll be right back."

He disappeared from the tent and reappeared moments later, face beer red and clutching a guitar case.

"Trey and Angeline," he explained.

Jill groaned and put her face in her hands. "You walked in on- oh god. At least they're quiet."

Eddie nodded, unbuckling the guitar case and taking the instrument out. "Anyway. How would you like a lesson?"

Jill's face lit up. He felt his heart jump.

"You mean it?" She asked.

He nodded, handing her the guitar. "It's all easy, just basic chords."

He taught her G, A, Am, E, Em, D, Dm, F, C, E7, A7, B7, and D7. Jill caught on surprisingly fast.

"I've watched my stepdad play these chords for a long time," she explained. "And since I was an awful dancer, unlike my mom, she made me take 6 years of piano lessons and 4 of voice lessons."

It was Eddie's turn to be impressed. He took the guitar back. "Well, how about I play something and you sing along?"

Jill's eyes lit up. "Hit me."

Eddie pulled a capo from the guitar case, fixed it onto the fifth fret, and started playing Dance Me To The End of Love, a song he knew Jill enjoyed.

Jill laughed and blushed, suddenly shy and unable to open her mouth and sing.

"Come on," Eddie encouraged her. "I know you know this song."

She giggled, and finally began to sing. "Dance me to your beauty, like a burning violin. Dance me to the panic till I'm gathered safely in. Lift me like an olive branch, and be my homeward dove, and dance me to the end of love." She broke off, face red.

Eddie was amazed. He had never heard her sing before. _Of course she's amazing at it, _he thought. _She's amazing at everything she does._

"Let me see your beauty, when the witnesses are gone, let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon..." Jill trailed off as Eddie joined her. "Show me what I only know the limits of, and dance me to the end of love."

She grinned at him, trying not to laugh or cringe. He sucked at singing, truly did. But his guitar playing was wonderful.

They finished the rest of the song together, and Jill didn't mind his voice at all. She rather thought it blended with hers quite well.

Then, it was her turn to learn the song on guitar, and they spent the rest of the night googling song chords on Eddie's iPhone, and playing them to each other.

In the morning, Eddie woke first. They were still on the human day schedule, so he woke to the sounds of birds chirping. The guitar lay beside him, on his sleeping bag, and he found he was lying on top of Jill's sleeping bag, with Jill tucked inside. Her head lay on his chest and he had both arms lightly encircling her waist.

She opened her eyes and jade green met brown, and Eddie knew he was hopelessly in love with his royal charge.

And from the look in her green eyes, she was in love with him too.


	13. Small Bump - Lissa and Christian

Christian had only cried a few times in his life. When he was a child, he cried, of course. When his pet dog 'went to the farm', he cried. The day his parents were killed was a major one, because after that day he _never_ cried.

But then, when Tasha was imprisoned, he cried, in the privacy of his rooms. He couldn't face Lissa in his state. But Lissa, being the angel she was, she finally barged into his rooms and found him crying, and wrapped her arms around him and cried with him.

They even cried for Rose together, when she was in surgery. Christian didn't realize how much he valued roses friendship until he was on the verge of losing it.

He didn't cry when Lissa said yes when he proposed, but on his wedding day, when he saw Lissa walking down the aisle towards him, dressed in white, he couldn't help a few tears from slipping out. He was so blown away that this angel had agreed to become his angel, for as long as they both lived.

Lissa is the only thing that can give him so much emotion that it spills out.

But now, staring at the small bump of Lissa's stomach, Christian cries because he's overjoyed. In just four months, they'll have a little Dragomir. He's excited. He's terrified.

He can see her now; she has his black hair, but Lissa's brilliant jade-green eyes. When she grows, she'll be the spitting image of her mother.

"What should we name her?" Christian asks his wife, as they lay side by side in bed. He's rubbing the bump gently.

"Her? I think it's a 'him'." Lissa smiles lovingly at her stomach.

"It's a her." Christian says firmly.

Lissa laughs. "Alright, _her_, but let's pick a boy name. Just in case."

Christian thinks for a moment. "Andre, after your brother? Or Eric, after your father?"

Lissa shake her head. "No. Both of them turned out to be different people than I thought they were." She sighs. "I guess that rules out Natasha, while we're at it."

Christian, slightly taken aback that she would even _consider_ the name Natasha, answers with, "I was thinking Katerina."

Lissa considers it. "Katerina. That's pretty. Actually, for a boy's name, I liked Nikolai."

Christian nods, satisfied. "Nikolai. But only _if_ it's a boy." He bends down and coos at Lissa's stomach. "Hey, there, Katerina. We can't wait for you to arrive. Just four more months."

Lissa smiles at her husband, and they fall asleep like that, with Christian wrapped protectively around her stomach and their unborn child.

But a few nights later, Lissa wakes to pain.

Blood stains the sheets.

Christian calls the Court physician.

Lissa ends up having an emergency procedure, right there in their bedroom. Miscarriages are not to be taken lightly, especially when it is the queen miscarrying.

The doctor calls Christian in from the hall, when it's over. "My lord, the queen is awake."

Lissa is propped up in bed, her face pale.

He doesn't hesitate to crawl in beside her and pulls her into his arms.

And this time, he cries with Lisa, both of them weeping for what they lost, and what they could've had.

**AN: another angst one, I know. But don't worry they don't go childless permanently! I won't let them!**


	14. Check Yes Juliet - Sydney and Adrian

**New update! I hope everyone had a good New Years and other holidays. **

**Song: Check Yes Juliet by We the Kings. **

**This one's pretty spoiler-free. Enjoy! Review, and you win the Ivashkinator. Honorarily, of course. I don't actually have it…**

"Sydney? Are you with me?" Adrian asked over the Love Phone.

She hesitated. "Adrian, I can't just _drop_ everything and – "

"You _can_." He insisted. "Zoe's here now, she can run everything. Jill is safe; Eddie would _never_ let anything happen to her. He's prepared to die for her. You're not happy here, Sage."

"But, my job…" she trailed off. Her job? Like she had been taking that seriously lately.

Adrian seemed to know what she was thinking. He always did. "We both know it doesn't matter much anymore. And your dad's an ass, so if you're feeling bad about leaving him, then you can stop."

She didn't answer; just considered his words.

"Come on, Sydney. Do something for _you_ for once. For _us_. They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance."

She sighed. "They'll be looking for me, you know. To bring me back, and I'll probably go into a reeducation center if they catch me."

"_If, _Sydney, _if._ They won't. I won't let that happen to you. We'll change our names. You can make us disguises. Hell, I'll even call in a favor with _Zmey_."

"How do you know Zmey?" Sydney asked, incredulous.

"His daughter broke my heart after I helped break her out of prison. He owes me."

Sydney shook her head. "He'd ask for a price anyway. I still owe him."

"It doesn't matter. We'll call him as a last resort."

She sighed. "The Alchemists can track me down anywhere we go."

"Even in _Rome_?"

She gasped. "Rome? Oh, _Adrian. _You _didn't_."

"I did, babe. Two one-way tickets to Rome for Mr. and Mrs. Jet Steele. I didn't use our real names. We're not in the system."

She rolled her eyes. "You did not give _Jet Steele _as your name."

"I did, so get used to it, _Mrs. Steele_. Come on. The flight leaves in an hour and it takes a half hour to get there."

"I'm not even packed!"

"Then hurry up. I'm waiting outside with the Ivashkinator."

Sydney gave in. "You're sure? Because this puts you in danger too. We'll be on the run for possibly _years_ until I finally fall off the grid or they just give up looking for me."

"We can fake your death or something. In fact, when we're in Rome, I'll call Zmey and see what he can do. We may have to move to Athens."

Sydney felt excitement bubbling in her stomach. "Can we go to Athens anyway?"

"Of course, Sage. Now, _come on!_ We're running!"

She giggled, suddenly elated, feeling freer than she ever had in a long, long time. She was going to disappear. No more Alchemists. Her tattoo was broken and she had sealed it just a few days ago. The gold was already fading away. She found she missed it. Well, maybe she'd get another one.

"Okay, okay. I'm packing now." She hung up on the Love Phone and hurriedly squashed clothes, toiletries, and a few valuable posessions into her suitcase. It didn't take long, she had learned how to travel light and pack fast even before the age of thirteen.

She slipped out of her room. Zoe had thankfully stayed soundly asleep through their whole conversation. She didn't leave a note.

"Goodbye, Zoe," she whispered, and descended the stairs to the front entrance, and she was out the door.

It was raining outside. Adrian stood under the awning before the door, and his face lit up when he saw her.

"Come on," Adrian said, taking her. He saw her pause and look up at the building, thinking of all the people they'd have to leave behind. "Hey." He took her hand and she looked at him with her warm brown eyes. "Don't look back. It's just you and me now."

She bit her lip and nodded, sadly gazing at the dorms as they got into the Ivashkinator.

"We have to say goodbye to the Ivashkinator," Sydney said sadly. "We can't bring it with us. They'll track it."

Adrian sighed and steered onto the highway. "I'm selling it."

"No!"

"Sydney, we need the money." He took her hand again and kissed her knuckles. "I'm driving it to the airport though, so you could say goodbye. The buyer is picking it up there and wiring the money into a bank account I set up."

She smiled wanly at him, and pressed her fingers to her eyes. She was unused to showing so much emotion. "You really planned ahead."

"Of course I did. I've been planning this for months."

Sydney shook her head and smiled. "Adrian, you're the best."

"Jet, you mean."

Sydney groaned. "These are _not_ our permanent aliases."

"Sure they are. At least, I intend to make one part in particular permanent."

"And that is?"

Adrian smirked. "The 'Mrs.'"

An hour later, they were on board the plane, leaving their old lives behind to make brand new ones.

"Escape Plan #1," Adrian murmured in Sydney's ear. "Run, baby, run. You and me."


	15. First Day - Lissa and Christian

**Not a songfic. Enjoy!**

"Do you have your backpack?" Lissa asked for the hundredth time. "And your coat? Lunchbox?"

Christian resisted the urge to rolls his eyes at his wife as their son nodded and showed her. "See, mommy?"

"Good boy." Lissa smoothed back his black hair. "Remember now, play nice with the other children. Listen to your teacher. Don't talk back. Work hard. Don't – "

"Liss." Christian touched her back. "Calm down. He'll be fine. Won't you, Alek?"

Their son, Aleksander, nodded, blinking his green eyes at his parents. "Can we go now?"

Lissa nodded, and together she and her husband walked their child through the hallways of Court to the kindergarten that had been built especially for the children of the twelve royal families.

Lissa was grateful that there was a kindergarten here at Court. She didn't think she could have the heart to send her son to St. Vlads all the way in Montana. Next year perhaps, but she wasn't ready to let her child go just yet.

Lissa and Christian dropped Alek off at the door. Lissa knelt and pulled him to her chest, kissing his cheek. "Goodbye, sweetie. Mommy and daddy will be here when school ends. Have fun."

Christian picked up Alek and squeezed him in a quick bear hug. "Have fun at school, little man. We love you."

When he set his son down, Alek sprang into the classroom, stopping in the doorway to call out "Bye mommy! Bye daddy!" before immediately running to the building blocks a few other boys were playing with.

The teacher smiled reassuringly and bowed to the king and queen before closing the classroom door. Guardians took up positions at the door and windows.

"See? He's _surrounded_ by guardians." Christian said to Lissa. He grabbed her hand and gently pulled her away from the kindergarten, in the direction of the apartment. "And we'll see him in a few hours."

"I know," Lissa sighed. "But what if he misses us? What if he trips and gets hurt?" She gasped. "What if a kid starts bullying him?" She turned to go back, but Christian held her hand firmly and tugged her backwards, wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into his chest.

"_Lissa._ Listen to me. He is going to be fine. Calm down. There is a teacher there who can intervene if things get out of hand, _which they won't_," he added when he saw the alarmed look on her face. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Stop worrying, momma bear. Besides, I have yet to meet a kid who's stupid enough to pick on the crown prince."

Lissa relaxed against him and sighed.

"You know what?" Christian said.

"Hmm?"

"We _finally_ have a few hours, all to ourselves." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Lissa couldn't help but laugh, and let him lead her back to the apartments, where they enjoyed some rather rare and necessary time together.

Hours later, they went to go pick Alek up, and Lissa finally relaxed when he ran into her arms. "Mommy!"

"Hi, baby. How was school?"

"I drew a picture! And we played with building blocks! And we had story time! And we introduced everyone and I made a friend!"

Alek handed his drawing to his father. "Great job, little man! It's a beautiful bunny."

"Daddy," Alek giggled. "It's not a bunny. It's a dragon! Like Dragomir!"

Lissa picked up her son and together the family walked back to the apartment. "It's a wonderful dragon," she reassured her son. "Daddy was joking."

Christian shook his head subtly at her. "It looks like a bunny!" he whispered. "Look, the cottontail and everything!"

"It's a _dragon_," she grinned. "Alek, you said you made a friend. Who?"

"Her name's Mary." Alek smiled. "She has brown hair and brown eyes and she likes dragons too."

"Mary Badica?" Lissa asked.

Alek shrugged. "Think so. Can't rem'mber. But she helped me draw the dragon."

Lissa nodded. "So. Do you want to go back to school tomorrow?"

"Yes!" Alek shouted. He sobered. "Can I go back now?" he asked his mother seriously.

Christian laughed. "Sorry, kiddo. School's closed until tomorrow."

Alek sighed. "Okay. But can we draw some more at home?"

"Of course," Lissa said.

"And I'll show you how to draw a _real_ dragon," Christian added.

And the royal family went home, where they drew dragons together until naptime.

**See? I wouldn't leave them childless forever! Besides, Lissa kinda needs some little Dragomirs to keep the bloodline going. **

**Dear Mori Belikov and BloodlinesAddict, thank you both SO much for reviewing! The Ivashkinator is yours! I hope Adrian and Sydney can bear to part with it. Your reviews were both so kind!**

**So here was #15. My goal is to get to 50. I hope it goes well!**

**Read and review please! Review to get a dragon drawing from Alek!**


	16. Arrested - Sydney and Adrian

**Here's more sydrian! Read and review for Sydney to bail ya outta jail.** **(or at least for a 'Get Out of Jail Free' card)**

Sydney awoke to the sound of the Love Phone ringing.

She groaned and rolled over to check the clock. It read 2:41 am.

"Adrian, this better be good," she said when she answered. "What is it?"

"Um, well first of all, you love me, right?"

She sighed. "Yes, I love you, Adrian."

"Good, 'cause keep that in mind when I tell you this."

"WHAT are you going to tell me?" Sydney sat up, worried. "Are you okay?"

"It depends how you define 'okay'. I'm not physically hurt or anything, but-"

"Adrian," she cut him off. "Get to the point. What happened?"

"Well, Sage, I'm in prison."

"WHAT?" She gasped. "Adrian, HOW?"

"'Well, I drove to the grocery store and apparently I parked the Ivashkinator in a spot that I wasn't allowed to park in, but only for a second, and I went into the grocery store and came out to see a cop giving me a ticket. I told him I was leaving but he didn't believe me, so I refused the ticket and we got in a fight and then he arrested me."

"Oh my god, Adrian!"

"Yeah, and um... I need you to bail me out."

Sydney sighed and jumped out of bed, quickly pulling on clothes. "I'm coming. Was the Ivashkinator impounded?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Hold on. I'll see you soon."

"Thanks Sydney. I love you."

"Love you too," she replied dryly.

Downstairs, she waved at the matron. "Project for Mrs. Terwiliger."

The woman barely looked up from her magazine and nodded sleepily.

Sydney got into Quicksilver and headed for town.

At the police station, she presented her driver's license. "I'm here to pay the bail for Adrian Ivashkov."

The secretary flipped through the files. "There's no Ivashkov here."

Sydney shook her head, confused. "The guy who got arrested after refusing to pay the parking ticket?"

"Oh, you mean Jet Steele."

What was it with him and that name? "Yeah, that's the one," she sighed.

"Mr. Steele is being held with a bail of $400."

Sydney groaned inwardly and pulled out the credit card the Alchemists had given her for emergencies. They would no doubt contact her, complaining, but she thought she could argue out of it.

The secretary swiped the card and nodded, giving Sydney the card and a receipt. "An officer will take you to the cell."

A portly police man walked up, jangling the keys on his belt.

"Bill, this girl paid Mr. Steele's bond. He's free." The secretary gestured to Sydney.

The cop-Bill-nodded. "Follow me."

They entered a hallway that led to a room with a large jail cell. A jail cell with Adrian inside.

"Hi, honey," Adrian smiled at her through the bars.

She shook her head at him as Bill unlocked the door and Adrian stepped out.

He wrapped his arms around Sydney. "Thanks for coming to get me and bailing me out," he said in her ear. "I'll pay you back."

Sydney knew he couldn't afford it; his dad had cut him off.

"It's ok. It's just Alchemist money." She said when they pulled back. "And I think I can negotiate my case THIS time. But not a second one."

Adrian gulped as she glared at him.

"So, behave." Sydney finished. "Or I'll MAKE you."


	17. Missing PART 1 - Jill and Eddie

**Not a songfic, just a drabble. Part 1. Enjoy!**

"Missing? What do you mean _missing_?" Jill stared at her sister. "He can't be _missing_."

Lissa nodded sadly. "I'm sorry, Jill. But he wasn't accounted for when the guardians returned."

Jill's eyes threatened to spill over with unshed tears. She didn't want to ask, she wasn't sure she could handle the answer. But if she didn't ask…

Lissa seemed to understand her sister's distress. "No, they don't think he's dead," she rushed. "They didn't find his body, Jill."

Jill relaxed, visibly. _Not dead_, she whispered to herself. _They don't think he's dead_.

"Well, aren't you going to send out a search party?" She demanded. "He could be injured, lying in some ditch or something." She stopped when an idea occurred to her.

Lissa watch the blood drain from Jill's face. "Jill, maybe you should sit – "

"What if they turned him Strigoi?" she choked out. "Oh my God…"

Lissa firmly grasped Jill's arm and led her to a chair. "We have no way of knowing. But if he _is_ Strigoi, we know ways to turn him back."

Jill sniffed. "Would you be willing to use spirit for him, though?" She hated to ask such a sacrifice of her sister, knowing it would be a heavy price to pay.

Lissa nodded and smiled wanly. Jill could see tears glittering unshed in her sister's green eyes, the same green eyes that looked at her in the mirror every day. "This is Eddie we're talking about. Of course I would do that for him. He's done so much already, for both of us."

Jill took a shaky breath. "What are Rose and Dimitri's thoughts?"

"Rose says Eddie is 'almost as badass as her' and Dimitri says he's resourceful and skilled. He'll be okay."

"But aren't you going to organize a search party, or anything?"

"Yes, we have a few guardians looking for him right now. But Jill, if they don't find him in four days…" Lissa trailed off.

"Then what?"

"The search party gets called off. The search party is only going for so long because he's the princess's guardian."

"And if they…" Jill swallowed. "And if they don't find him?"

Lissa bit her lip, hesitant to answer. "The search party gets called off, you get a new guardian. Eddie will be officially presumed dead."

Jill wiped at the tears trickling down her face. "Can I go with them?"

"No," Lissa said sharply. "We need you here, safe."

"But if Eddie's in trouble I can't just _sit_ here – "

"Jill, he wouldn't want you putting yourself in harm's way on his account. You know he'd prefer you to stay here. Besides, Adrian wouldn't let you go either."

"Why not?" Jill snapped. "You passed the stupid relative law. That's why we're back here in the first place!"

It was true; two years ago, Lissa had successfully gotten the rest of Court to comply with the passing of the law, and Jill was able to return home, along with Eddie and Adrian. Sydney continued work for the Alchemists, but she and Adrian were very much in love.

Now seventeen, Jill was finally adjusting to Court and being the crown princess.

And then Eddie went on a Strigoi raid with some other guardians and hadn't come back. No one had seen his body; no one knew what had become of him due to the chaos of the whole event.

Jill and Eddie had grown very close, due to their time in Palm Springs, and Eddie had been her sole companion when she returned to Court. Jill had developed romantic feelings for her friend since back in Palm Springs, but neglected to act on them, as she didn't want to get rejected and thus making their guardian-charge friendship uncomfortably awkward.

Now, she regretted not telling him at all. He could be dead, or worse, _Strigoi_, and there was nothing she could do about it.

"Jill," Lissa said gently. "You're my sister and I want you to be safe. There is the possibility that he could be taken by Strigoi or… well, in any case, I don't want you put into a position where you could potentially be harmed."

"I can fight, though! Eddie and I have been training for the past few years!"

"I know. But still that doesn't match up to the twelve plus years these guardians have been training. Please, Jill. For my sake, for Adrian, for Eddie, and for your own. Stay here."

"Fine," Jill grumbled. "But I can' just _sit_ here. If I do, I'll go insane."

"Christian and Mia can help you train more, if you like."

Jill sighed. "That's alright. I'll figure something out." She stood on shaky legs and wiped her face again. "I um. I think I'll go see Adrian."

Lissa nodded, stepping forward to wrap her sister into a gentle but awkward hug. Even after two years together, the sisters were still uncomfortable with each other. Jill reminded Lissa of her father's infidelity, and Lissa reminded Jill that she could never have a normal life.

They both stepped back and Lissa wiped her eyes too. They both smiled wanly at each other. Eddie was just as important to Lissa as he was to Jill.

Jill wandered the halls sadly until she found herself at Adrian's apartments.

She didn't knock. She knew from the bond that he wasn't occupied with anything. Sydney was off doing Alchemist stuff in Boston and would be gone for the next few days.

"Hey, Jailbait!" Adrian called from the couch. He was watching TV. "How's it-oh. Jill, what's wrong, kid?"

"Eddie," she said miserably. "He's missing. I don't know where he is. No one does."

Adrian wrapped an arm around her. "Come here, kiddo. They'll find him. He's a brave one, and utterly devoted to you. Nothing will get in his way of coming back to you."

"What if he's Strigoi?" Jill whispered.

"Then, we change him back." Adrian said matter of factly. "Easy peasy. Just some spirit magic from me and Lissa and presto he's a Dhampir again. Now just breathe. He'll be okay."

Jill hoped Adrian was right.

_Oh God, Eddie_, she thought. _Please, _please_ be okay._

**What's going to happen? Mwahahaha! Don't worry, I got a nice plot going for this one. Review! Review for… um… yeah there's nothing I can bribe you guys with so please out of the kindness of your hearts drop me a review? Shout out to Mori Belicov Hathaway again! (I thank anyone and everyone who reviews, for every review they drop me.) Cheers! Enjoy! And as always, any song suggestions, any drabble prompts or requests are welcome!**


	18. Cooking - Lissa and Christian

**Not a songfic, just a drabble. Some sweet Christian/Lissa fluff.**

"I'm bored," Christian whined from the couch.

Lissa regarded him with a mixture of exasperation, amusement, and exhaustion as she flopped down next to him. She had just gotten back from a busy meeting with the Court royals, doing her queenly duties. "Well, what do you want to do? Watch a movie?"

"Nah."

"Play a game?"

He crooked an eyebrow at her and smirked suggestively. "What kind of game?"

Lissa rolled her eyes as she stood and walked into the kitchen. "Well, I'm hungry, so…"

"I got it!" Christian jumped up raced in behind her. "I'm teaching you how to cook."

"Chris, I _know_ how to cook."

"Please. Liss, you can cook soup on the stove and order pizza. It's a wonder you don't starve without me."

"Rose and I were able to feed ourselves while we were on the run. Hell, I cooked _all_ our meals." She shuddered. "Rose's cooking… you don't want to go there."

"I know. None of us ever want to go there." He pulled down a recipe book as Lissa leaned against the counter. "Dimitri does all the cooking for them. I'll occasionally drop something by just so they don't starve."

"Okay, fine." Lissa sighed. "What are we cooking?"

Christian was already pulling pots and pans out of the cabinet. "How does lasagna sound?"

"Do we have everything we need?"

Christian nodded and stared at the cookbook. "Would you get the ingredients? Noodles and cheese are in the fridge, tomato sauce is in the pantry."

Lissa shook her head but complied, and brought everything to Christian.

"Great," he said, setting a pot of water on the stove. "Now we boil the noodles."

"I know how to boil noodles, Christian."

He grinned at her. "Not _my_ way." He stretched out his hand and a ball of fire leapt from his palm to the burner. He smiled, proud of himself and Lissa just grinned at him and rolled her eyes.

"Show off."

But, once they began to work together in preparing the meal, it was like they had been cooking together for years. While Lissa drained and readied the noodles in the baking dish, Christian was making the sauce from scratch, sending her to fetch him vegetables and other things.

"I need the basil and parsley," he said, not looking up from the pot he was stirring.

Lissa paused, staring up at the spice and herbs rack in her cabinet. "And those are…?"

"They're green."

Lissa nodded. "Yes, so is everything _else _I'm staring at."

Christian chuckled and abandoned his post at the stove to stand behind her. "These are what I need," his breath tickled her neck as he stretched his arm around her and grabbed for the herbs.

Lissa turned around and faced him, smiling coyly. "Is that _all_ you need?"

"No," Christian said without missing a beat. He set down the bottles of herbs and pulled her into his arms. "That's you."

She sighed and leaned against his chest. "You don't know how much I needed to hear that. It's been a rough day."

Christian wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight. "Queen stuff?"

"As usual," Lissa mumbled against his shirt. "If the meeting hadn't ended when it did, I would've excused myself to come have you set them all on fire."

Christian chuckled. "But that wouldn't be very queenly."

Lissa shrugged. "I wasn't feeling very queenly."

Christian laughed again and as Lissa stepped away, he snagged her hand and pulled her back. "What are you – " she began, but Christian just twirled her and pulled her back in, clasping her hand in his and setting his other around her waist.

"Christian," Lissa laughed.

"Hmm?" He asked, dancing them around the kitchen.

Lissa smiled up at him and allowed herself to be spun again. "You're such a dork."

"Now _that_ wasn't queenly at all," he remarked.

"I don't want to think about being the queen right now," she twirled back into his arms. "I just want to be Lissa for now."

Christian suavely dipped her, pressing his lips firmly against hers. "You always are."

She smiled up at him, but when she heard a hissing noise, she turned her attention back to the stove. The sauce had boiled over, spilling all over the stove and splattering the walls with red.

When the boiling hot sauce spilled onto the glass baking dish Lissa had been using for the noodles, it shattered.

Christian hurriedly set her upright and went to take care of the stove.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly. "We were supposed to watch all that…"

"You know what?" Lissa said, cleaning glass up from the floor. "I'm not really in the mood for lasagna. Does pizza sound good?"

Christian grinned at her. "I'll get the phone." He paused, staring at the kitchen. "That is, _after_ we clean up."

After the kitchen had been put back in order, they ordered a pizza (half sausage and pepperoni, half cheese) and crawled into Lissa's bed to watch Hercules. And when they fell asleep in each other's arms, both of them felt like they had finally found home.

**Here ya go! Short, I know, but well, that's all I can pump out at midnight with a KILLER headache. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and as always, please read and review. I love getting feed back. Review for some of Christian's lasagna? It's worth it, and he can make a vegetarian one, too!  
The next drabble, a Romitri one, will probably be up tomorrow. **


	19. Test Tubes and Babies P1 - Rose&Dimitri

**Not a songfic. As always, enjoy!**

Rose and Dimitri had approached a Moroi doctor about conceiving a child, and when they presented her with their predicament of dhampirs being unable to produce children, she told them of an alternative.

"There may be a different way than a natural conception."

Rose clasped Dimitri's hand. "And that would be?"

"If we were to take a sperm from your husband and an egg from you, we may be able to get them to bind using scientific means."

"How?"

"You two have the same alleles, the same amount of genes and chromosomes. It's just getting the sperm to bind with the egg that is the problem. If we break down the membrane of the egg and insert the sperm, it would work.

"Now, I'm not sure if the fertilized egg would thrive in either a lab or your uterus, Mrs. Belikov," the doctor continued. "We can try with taking a few of your eggs and a few of your sperm, Mr. Belikov, and cross them and surgically implant one in your uterus, Mrs. Belikov. If it succeeds, then we do not need the extra. If it fails and you miscarry, then we can try again in a lab.

Rose's head was spinning. "You mean... It would work?"

"It very well could."

She turned to Dimitri, and her heart swelled when she saw him grinning ear to ear.

Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "We could have a baby," she whispered. "Our very own baby."

Dimitri wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I can't believe this," he murmured against her head. "I always dreamed about having a child with you, but I never thought it would come true." He lifted her chin and kissed her gently. When he pulled back, he brushed tears from her cheeks.

The doctor cleared her throat.

"Sorry," Rose said, wiping the rest of the tears from her face. "So, when could this procedure be done?"

"We can schedule you for egg harvesting for the second week following your period. Mr. Belikov, however, could donate sperm whenever."

Rose smirked at him. "You're definitely not lacking in _that_ position," she whispered to him.

He struggled to keep his face calm, but Rose could see his cheeks turn slightly pink.

"So just give us a call when you're on your period, and we can schedule for roughly two weeks after that, so we can catch you as you ovulate." The doctor said to Rose. She nodded and shook the doctor's hand.

"Thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to us."

The doctor smiled and shook hands with Dimitri too before ushering them out the door. "That's why I like my job. It's great to see so many couples get the chance to be parents."

Rose and Dimitri clasped hands as they walked to the car.

"Excited?" Rose asked Dimitri.

He replied by dropping her hand and snagging her around the waist, lifting her up and spinning her around. He peppered kisses on her face, accenting each word. "I. Am. So. Excited. Roza."

She couldn't believe it. In a few weeks, she could possibly be a mother-to-be.

**Awww! They would be badass parents. I was thinking about mules one day and how they were sterile and I was like "What if I took and egg from one and a sperm from another and crossbred them" you know, because I'm crazy like that. And then I was like OH MY GOD ROSE AND DIMITRI COULD HAVE CHILDREN IF THIS WORKED. So voila!**

**Review for… well, I'm not offering you guys a test tube baby… review for the chance to babysit Rose and Dimitri's kid!**


	20. Puppy - Sydney and Adrian

**This is a sort of companion to Check Yes Juliet. Just a drabble.**

"Syd!" Adrian called as he entered their apartment.

"In here!" She called from the living room where she was reading a book about sightseeing on the couch.

Their plane had landed in Rome yesterday, and with some help from Zmey, they were able to get an apartment. When Sydney had called Rose on the way to the airport, asking for a little help with her father, Rose was more than happy to comply.

"You're actually running away? With _Adrian_?" she had asked.

Sydney had blushed and glanced at Adrian. "Yes."

"That's great. I'm so happy for both of you."

"Thanks, Rose. I hate to ask this, but could you possibly persuade your father to help us out…?" she trailed off.

"Of course! You and Adrian helped break me out of prison and saved my life. The old man is just grumpy and doesn't like to do things for charity. I'll talk to him."

"Thank you, Rose," Sydney said, relieved.

"Of course. And if he calls you requesting a favor, tell me, and I'll set him straight."

Sydney laughed. "You got it."

And when they got off the plane in Rome, they were greeted with a driver holding up a sign saying "Jet Steele" and Adrian hastened towards him, dragging Sydney along behind him.

She had no idea how Rose had thought to use Adrian's fake name, but she did.

They driver had taken them to an apartment building deep within the city of Rome, where the person at the front desk asked if they were Mr. and Mrs. Jet Steele. Through Sydney's fluency in Italian, they were able to work out their room number. Sydney fumed to herself about the Jet Steele thing. Adrian was overjoyed.

"Hey, you get to pick your new first name," He said. "And it's a badass name anyways."

All arguing ceased when they entered their new apartment. It was on the seventh floor, with a view of the beautiful city. Sydney sent Rose a quick text, thanking her for her efforts and getting them a beautiful new home so fast.

Adrian had set their bags down and pulled her into the tastefully furnished bedroom, claiming they had to 'break it in'.

Now a day later, they were preparing for sightseeing around the city. At least, Sydney was.

Adrian walked into the living room, holding his coat closed. "I have a surprise for you."

"Hmm?" She asked, not looking up from the book.

"Meet Gelato."

"Who's Gelat – " Sydney asked, looking up. She stopped when she saw the furry head poking out of Adrian's coat.

"Our new puppy." Adrian unzipped his coat and revealed a small St. Bernard puppy. It barked happily, wagged its tail, and peed on the carpet.

"Adrian! No way! Oh God, he's peeing!" Sydney plopped down her book and went to grab some paper towels.

"Come on, Sydney. I saw him laying outside the gelato shop and he didn't have a collar."

"Adrian," Sydney said, mopping up the pee, "we couldn't even take care of Hopper. Both of us forgot about him on several different occasions. Besides, it's different."

"How is this any different from Hopper?"

"Because Hopper isn't a real animal! He's a callistana, a piece of quartz crystal!"

Adrian picked up the puppy. "Come on, Sydney. Look at him. He's so small, and homeless." He made a face and held the puppy up. "Let's adopt him."

"Adrian, we aren't exactly the best choice for pet owners. We may have to run at any time, if the Alchemists find us."

"He's small, he doesn't need much. Just a corner of the kitchen, a newspaper, some food and water."

"Adrian, do you know how _big_ St. Bernard's get?"

He didn't seem phased. "I like big dogs." He set the puppy down and it ran over to Sydney, tripping over its feet and landing in a heap in front of her.

"My answer's still no," she sighed and picked Gelato up.

He licked her face and she smiled at him, then quickly frowned. "Adrian, we can't. We're going sightseeing today, and the rest of the days we'll both be gone looking for jobs. Plus, we're both going to school."

Adrian thought about it. "I can compel my teacher to allow pets."

Sydney sighed. "That's not the point, and I don't want you using Spirit."

"It's not a big deal, Sydney. Besides, who could say no to a puppy?"

"Me," she said firmly. "No. We can't have the dog."

Adrian pouted, giving her his best puppy dog eyes. "Come on, Sydney. Please?"

"No."

He leaned in closer. "We can go _anywhere_ you want today. Even if it's a museum. I'll go."

"Even the Vatican Museum?"

"Even that."

Sydney sighed. "Fine. But _you're_ cleaning up after it. _You're_ buying its food."

"_Him_. Gelato is a _him_."

Sydney sighed.

* * *

After they got back from a long day of touring and got into bed, Adrian walked in, cradling Gelato.

Sydney sighed, but said nothing, and when she woke in the morning, with Gelato curled between her and Adrian, she realized she didn't mind the dog so much.

**Thank you David Fishwick for the fifth review! I appreciate it! Not the best chapter, I know, but I wanted to get it done so I could move on to the next chapter, which will be Missing Part 2. **


	21. Missing PART 2 - Jill and Eddie

**Part 2! This will have multiple parts. I just really liked this idea and I didn't want to write an entire story about it. So here it is!**

It was nearing the end of the fourth day of the search, and Jill was getting antsy.

She had already been antsy the entire four days, but now that they were almost up… she felt like either crying or throwing up. She wasn't sure which.

When they hadn't returned the first night, Jill just took a few deep breaths assuring herself they would find him tomorrow.

And then tomorrow came, and no Eddie.

Then the next day. No Eddie.

And it was the end of the fourth day now, and she hadn't eaten since yesterday. Was it yesterday? Or was it the day before?

Jill wasn't entirely sure. She just sat in her room with Adrian, not talking much, just… waiting. Eventually, Adrian had to force her to take some ZQuill and she slept all through the fourth day. Now, she had awoken, and was counting the minutes down. Only twenty remained.

"I can't do this. Something bad's happened." She started pacing, rubbing her face.

"Sit down," Adrian said. "They'll bring him back."

"Easy for you to say!" Jill burst out. "What if it was Sydney out there, missing, possibly _dead_? I guarantee you wouldn't be calm."

Adrian didn't say anything. "You're right," he whispered, after a moment. "If it were Sage, I wouldn't be sober."

"Exactly." Jill kept pacing. "They're going to call it off in twenty minutes if he doesn't show up, and I'll never see him again and I'll never get to tell him-" she stopped.

"Never get to tell him?" Adrian prompted.

"I love him."

Adrian faked surprise, and despite her dismay, Jill rolled her eyes. "Really, Adrian? You've been around us for two years. If you didn't figure it out, then Sydney did and she told you. So cut the crap."

Adrian blinked and chuckled. "Fine. You so obvious, giving him googly eyes every chance you got."

Jill froze. "Do you think he noticed?"

"Eddie? No way. He may be one of the smartest guardians out there, but he's hopeless when it comes to love."

Jill breathed a sigh that was a mixture of relief and disappointment. "Okay. Well. Um."

The clock chimed noon (their midnight) and Jill jumped. Her face went pale. "Oh my god…"

She burst from her rooms, running along the hall, and dashed into Lissa's.

Lissa was conversing with a group of guardians, and Jill frantically searched among them for any sign of sandy blond hair and brown eyes.

They weren't there.

She _did_ see Rose and Dimitri. Rose's face looked tearstained and tense. Dimitri had his usual stoic guardian face on (and it pained her to see it. Eddie would emulate that face when he could, trying to be a 'proper' guardian. Jill would have so much fun trying to coax a smile out of him, and she inevitably could).

Lissa saw her. "Everyone, I'd like a moment with the princess, please."

The guardians bowed to her, and then to Jill on their way out. Rose and Dimitri remained.

"So?" Jill's voice cracked. "Where is he?"

"Jill…" Rose began. She sighed and walked over, wrapping Jill in a hug.

"What happened to him?" Jill croaked. "Is he dead?"

"No, hon." Rose said, pulling back. "Well… that's kind of difficult to answer."

"Why?" Jill couldn't raise her voice above a whisper.

"He's Strigoi."

Jill felt her face go white. There was a roaring in her ears and the room began to spin.

"Easy," Adrian wrapped her in a hug and lowered her to the ground. "Breathe, Jill."

"Strigoi?" She choked out. "_How_? How do you know?"

"We ran into a group of them while we were searching for him," Rose said. "We killed them all except one, and interrogated him, and he said they had turned Eddie Strigoi."

Jill felt the tears then, and pressed her palms to her face. "Oh God."

She felt someone lightly run their hand over her curls and looked up.

Dimitri was looking down at her somberly. "I'm sorry, Princess. We'll all miss him. He was a brave guardian, and a dear friend."

That just made Jill cry harder.

"Thanks, I'll take it from here," Adrian said, squeezing Jill tight, as if he could shield. "We should go."

Lissa shifted uncomfortably.

"What is it?" Adrian asked, tightening his arms around Jill, as if he could shield her from more heartbreak.

"I have more bad news," Lissa said. "But I'm not sure this is a good time."

"No. Tell me. Is it about Eddie?" Jill hiccupped.

"It's about Sydney."

Jill could feel Adrian's panic through the bond.

"What about her?" he asked.

Lissa hesitated.

"Lissa, tell us!" Jill exploded. "She's our friend too. What happened?"

"The Alchemists found out about her relationship with Adrian, and how she's been helping us all." Lissa said. "They took her to a reeducation center. I'm doing everything I can to get her out, but… It's not really in my jurisdiction to ask them to release her."

Adrian had gone stiff around Jill. She felt terrible already about Eddie, but the waves of anguish rolling off of him through the bond were enough to send her into another bout of crying.

"Reeducation?" Adrian rasped. "Sydney is in _reeducation_? Oh God, this is all my fault."

Lissa stared uncomfortably at her two friends, now a heap of distress on the floor, and wiped away a few tears herself. "They got her just outside of Philadelphia. She was coming back to Court."

"Do you know how they found out?"

Lissa shook her head. "It could be any number of things." She knelt then, to hug both Jill and Adrian. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I hate to tell you this news. All of it."

Jill just let herself cry, in the middle of her sister's conference room. She felt Adrian wanting to cry too, but knew he wouldn't do it until he was alone. She numbly thought about having to take all the alcohol out of his room. _I'll ask Rose to take care of it,_ she thought.

Lissa called Rose in to help bring Jill and Adrian to their rooms.

"I think they should both go to sleep. They both had a big shock." Lissa said.

Rose nodded. "I'll get the alcohol out of Adrian's room. I don't think it's a good idea leaving him alone with all of that in this state.

Jill nodded at her miserably. It was all she could do, her way of thanking Rose.

Rose understood. "Come on, Jailbait," She said, taking Jill's arm and gently lifting her. "Let's get you to bed."

**What's gonna happen next? Ahh! Feels! But don't worry, I have a plan for the long run.**

**I got a very kind review from a Guest, and it just made my day. Thank you so, ****_so_**** much! You are so kind.**

**Thanks to all of you, my story has had 1,800 views and I am so happy! Until next time!**


	22. Youre the One that I Want-LissaChristian

**Song: You're the One that I Want **

**Wait 'till you read the rest of it! Got chills? Are they multiplying? Losing control? Ah, gotta love puns. Can you guess which musical I'm quoting? No? Then ya better shape up.**

**Okay, I'm done. I promise. No more puns.**

Christian shook his head at Lissa. "I'm not going."

"Come on, Chris! You promised me!"

"No, I didn't. I said _maybe_, and now I'm saying no."

Lissa huffed angrily. "Well, I told Clara we'd be there."

"_Un_tell her, then. I'm not going."

They were going to a Halloween party that a popular girl, Clara Badica, had invited Lissa and Christian too. In an effort to get Christian more social and more comfortable with the other royals at St. Vlads, Lissa had confirmed she and Christian would be going, but now, Christian had other ideas.

"Christian, _please_. I really want to go."

"Lissa, I'm not saying you _can't_ go, I'm just saying that I don't want to."

"I'm not going without you!" Lissa angrily shook the costume bag at him. "It's a couple costume, remember?"

Christian rolled his eyes. "You can still go as your half. It makes sense by itself."

"It looks stupid without your costume, though."

Christian threw up his hands in frustration. "Can't you see if someone else would be willing to go with you?"

"No, because I thought this would be a nice thing for us to do together with my friends-"

"Friends? Lissa, they aren't your friends. _Rose_ is your friend. _I'm_ your friend. _Eddie _and _Mason_ and _Jill _and _Adrian_ are your friends."

"Christian. They _are_ my friends. I can have friends in different circles."

"Fine, they're your _friends_, if you want to call those shallow, stuck up royals friends-"

"Christian, last time I checked, _you_ were a royal!" Lissa shrilled.

"Hardly! Everyone seems to forget that. They just see the emo kid who 'loves Strigoi'."

Lissa winced. "They don't see that."

"Yes, they do." Christian sighed. "I'm sorry, Lissa, but if you want to go to that party, you're going _alone_. They don't want me there."

Lissa didn't say anything as he walked out the door and left her dorm room.

She hated fighting with Christian. _Hated_ it.

But he could be so… _stubborn_.

_He has a good reason,_ she thought as she sank to the bed. _He's right. He doesn't fit it. But can't he try and make an effort? _

The party was important to Lissa. It was imperative that she found her way back into everyone's good graces, for her sake and Rose's.

And she hoped that if Christian went with her, then the other kids would see there wasn't any cause for him to be so outcasted. That he could be witty and charming and 100% royal material. They would treat him better.

_But it's not what he wants,_ a nagging voice at the back of her head said. _You know he doesn't have the patience or respect for those people. And he's right, they _are_ shallow and stuck up. _

Lissa felt the same. She didn't like being friends with them, and he could tell. But appearances had to be kept up, otherwise they would be fish food for the gossip sharks, and that was always difficult for Lissa to deal with.

She stared at her costume in the bag, and sighed. She didn't really feel like going to Clara's party. Rose was gone, doing who knows what (Lissa just hoped she didn't get into a lot of trouble. Halloween was always a blowout night for her).

Lissa changed into leggings and a t-shirt and flopped down in front of her TV, hugging a pillow and a bag of popcorn. She didn't usually watch horror movies. The blood wasn't an issue (obviously), but she just couldn't deal with the suspense and fear.

_Dracula_ was on, and she couldn't help but laugh. The way humans portrayed vampires was always funny. They made things out to be a huge deal, when in reality, they were exactly the same, except Moroi needed blood, had fangs, and a flipped sleep schedule.

Strigoi were closer to the ideal 'vampire' the humans created.

She shivered absently. Tonight wasn't a night to be thinking about Strigoi.

As the movie drew on, she became more and more aware of every little creak and thump in the dorms.

Something scratched across her window. She jumped. She had drawn the blinds, and she didn't really feel like looking out there, imagining she'd see glowing red eyes and sharp fangs.

And then, the lights went out with a bang. Lissa bit back a scream as she felt in the dark for the flashlight she kept by her bed, but when she heard her door creak open, she couldn't help it. She screamed and threw her pillow at the shape that rose up in the doorway, outlined by the red emergency lights in the hall.

"Lissa! Calm down, it's me!" sparks flared to life and a ball of fire formed in the figure's hand, illuminating Christian's face.

She took a shaky breath. "Oh my God, Christian, you scared the _crap_ out of me. I thought you were a murderer!"

"Sorry. The lights went out and your door wasn't locked, so I figured I'd go in and…" he trailed off. "Wait. You threw a _pillow_ at me? You thought I was a murderer and you decided to throw a _pillow_?"

"I wasn't thinking," Lissa said crossly. "When you see some stranger in your doorway, what else do you do?"

Christian snorted.

"It's not funny!"

"You're right, you're right. It's not." He grinned, and Lissa gave up looking angry and smiled back.

"Maybe a pillow wasn't the best weapon."

Then she remembered she was still mad at him.

And then, she noticed what he was wearing.

Black chuck Taylors, dark ripped jeans rolled at the ankle, white t-shirt and black leather jacket with the "Thunderbirds" logo on the back. His hair was slicked back in the pompadour style, and he wore ray band sunglasses.

Christian was Danny Zuko.

"Chris, why do you have your costume on?"

He took off the sunglasses and sighed. "I thought about it, and you're right. I promised you we'd go to the party. So here I am, let's go."

Lissa's face lit up, and Christian was very, very glad he had decided to do this. _I look like an idiot,_ he thought. _But it makes Lissa happy, so… I'm happy._

She hurled herself into his arms. "Thank you. I'm sorry about the fight. I shouldn't have tried to force you into something you didn't want to do."

He hugged her tight. "I'm sorry too. I was an ass."

She pulled back and smirked. "Well that's perfect then. Danny Zuko was an ass too, until Sandy turned him around."

"I thought Sandy changed for him?"

Lissa shrugged. "It was a mutual thing."

Christian went back out in the hall while Lissa changed, and when she came out wearing a pink poodle skirt, white shirt, and "Pink Ladies" jacket, Christian was doubly glad he decided to do this. She looked gorgeous.

She smiled at him, and he wound his arms around her waist.

"Don't worry about my other 'friends'. You were right. You're the one that I want." She whispered in his ear.

He didn't doubt her for a minute.

**Thanks David Fishwick again for a review! I broke 2,000 views guys, and that is amazing! Thank you all SO much!  
Hmm random question of the day: would you rather shave off your eyebrows for a million dollars, or dye your hair bright purple for a million dollars?**


	23. Love is War - Rose and Dimitri

**Song: Love is War by American Young**

**This song reminded me of Rose and Dimitri. The lyrics are perfect. BUT I had to make Dimitri a bit OOC so he'd actually ****_argue_**** with Rose, so this Dimitri is pretty much the same except he's more willing to fight with Rose. Enjoy! I'm eager to hear what you guys think!**

_Young lovers in a picture frame, ever notice how there ain't no rain, nobody hangs hard times on the wall. You won't see it in an 8 by 10, but there's a storm every now and then, a slamming door down the hall…_

"Listen to me!" Rose shouts as she storms down the hall. "I've told you my answer time and time again, so _stop asking_!"

"Why not?" Dimitri shouts after her. This is the first time he's yelled at her, ever, and Rose finds it intimidating, but refuses to back down.

"Because, my answer is _no!_" she slams the door.

"Why the _hell_ not?" Dimitri calls through their bedroom door, frustrated but unsurprised to find it locked. "Rose, we love each other. We're committed to each other, you've met my family and I've endured an interrogation from yours-"

"That wasn't my fault! I warned you! I _told_ you to run!"

"Rose, you know that's not what I meant!" He rakes his hair back, frustration boiling over. "I just don't get it!"

"What?"

"Why you won't marry me!"

"Are you _deaf_? Comrade, I've _told you!" _She yells through the door.

"Saying 'you're not old enough' isn't a good enough reason!"

"It is a _perfectly_ _good_ reason! I'm eighteen, and you _know_ how I feel, but you're still proposing to me left and right!"

"Why is eighteen too young? Rose, we were _together_ before you were eighteen! Your father _and_ mother almost shot me in the stomach when they found out!"

Rose wants to say that it's different, but she knows it's a faulty argument. "I just feel like eighteen is too young to get married. Why is that so hard to understand?"

Normally Dimitri would take that as an answer and drop the issue, but tonight he is tired and feeling hurt after another failed proposal. It doesn't make sense to him; they are in love, sworn to love each other and no one else, so why hesitate in making it legally binding and public to all? His mother and sisters and Yeva all brought him up to value marriage, to value its sanctity and to see it as the ultimate union of two committed hearts. It's stability, stability he never had.

Rose does not feel the same. She thinks marriage is old fashioned and meant to keep women subservient, although Dimitri would never dream of trying to oppress or limit her.

"It wouldn't change anything, Rose," Dimitri tries. "It's not like you'd have to give up your duty, and I don't expect you to settle down and be a homemaker-"

"Then _why_?" She shrills, getting frustrated, herself. "If it won't change anything, then why bother? It's just a piece of paper. What good does that do us? It doesn't add or say anything we don't already feel!"

"It's important to me!"

"Do you _really_ want to have a teenage wife? Are you that crazy?"

"It's like I said, it wouldn't change anything," Dimitri shoots back. "And you agreed, so I don't get why we don't just do it already."

Rose practically screams in frustration. "GO AWAY! Do _not_ twist my words at me! I'm too young, and that's it! Keep it up, and I might not marry you even when I hit twenty!"

Dimitri throws up his hands. He knows when to back out. "Fine!"

As he walks away, he stops and kicks the wall, and a picture frame falls. The glass doesn't shatter, but all the same, he hears Rose screaming. "WHAT DID YOU BREAK?"

"NOTHING!"

"OH, SO YOU'RE BREAKING THINGS NOW? REAL MATURE COMRADE. ARE YOU SURE _YOU'RE_ NOT THE EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD?"

"I THOUGHT YOU WANTED ME TO LEAVE!"

"I DO!"

"FINE! I'M GOING!"

"FINE!"

He sets the frame down and looks at the picture inside and sighs. Lissa had taken it when they weren't looking. Lissa and Christian had taken a vacation to the beach in Florida, and naturally Dimitri and Rose went along. In the picture, Dimitri has thrown Rose over his shoulder and she's grinning at the camera, eyes wide and lips open mid-laugh.

Well, she isn't laughing now. Neither of them are.

_Sometimes loves is a white flag, sometimes love is standing tall, sometimes love is a feather, sometimes a cannonball, but it's worth fighting for. Baby, sometimes love is war…_

He returns later that night with takeout, knowing she must be starving. He's also brought her a chocolate cupcake from her favorite bakery, as a peace offering of sorts.

"Roza?" Dimitri knocks tentatively on the door.

Nothing.

He leans his forehead against the door. "Roza, I'm sorry I got angry at you. You're right, I'm rushing you into something you're not ready for, and that's not fair. And you're right, it won't change much. But marriage is important to me," he continues, "and I hope you'll say yes one day. And I'm willing to wait forever for that day, if that's what it takes."

Nothing.

He sinks to the floor, his back against the door and sighs. "Are you hungry? I brought you some dinner."

Nothing.

"Rose. Roza, _please_ talk to me. I'm sorry."

Finally, the door creaks open and he rises to his feet in a flash. Rose stands there in the doorway. Her eyes are red rimmed from crying. His heart breaks, knowing he's the one who made her cry, and the old loathing from when he was Strigoi comes rushing back.

Rose sees it. She always does. She sniffs and wipes her eyes before touching his arm. "I forgive you. I'm sorry, too. I'm being stubborn."

He doesn't say anything, just lets her continue.

"And I didn't really mean it when I say I wouldn't marry you when I hit my twenties," Rose rushes on. "I love you, Comrade, and I _do_ want to marry you, just _not now._ I'm eighteen. And, I'm going to be honest with you, when I'm twenty I might not want to get married then either."

His face falls.

"But," she grabs his hand. "A lot can happen in two years." She smiles wryly. "Who knows? Maybe you'll change my mind."

Dimitri cracks a smile and gently enfolds her in his arms. "I hope to," he whispers, kissing the top of her head. "I'm sorry," he apologizes again. "No more proposals for a _long_ time. I promise."

Rose smiles up at him and pulls his face down for a kiss. "I'm sorry too."

_An old couple on a front porch swing, on a walk down memory lane, been through the fire and back again. Through the clear and the cloudy skies, still love in each other's eyes, sometimes love is war but sometimes you win…_

Rose and Dimitri Belikov are officially retired. After serving the royal family for forty years, they moved into a small home nearby Lissa and Christian's apartments at Court.

A new king had been elected two years ago – Lissa and Christian's son, Alek, and he is proving to be a successful and popular monarch.

Now, they sit on the front porch of their home in the swing as they watch their son, Luka, play with their grandchildren on the front lawn.

Time had been good to them. Rose still packs a punch and has managed to maintain her small, curvy body. Her hair is still dark brown, albeit streaked with gray, and wrinkles line the edges of her eyes and forehead, but she refuses to acknowledge them, and Dimitri claims that he can't see them at all.

He has aged well. He could give George Clooney or Harrison Ford a run for their money with his salt and pepper hair, bright eyes and wiry physique. Age has not stooped his shoulders, and he still stands tall and proud.

Their son, Luka, is their only child, but he is their miracle child and for him they are eternally grateful. He was treasured, but not spoiled, he is fiery and stubborn like Rose, but he can be wise and protective and gentle, just like Dimitri. He has made them proud, becoming an important guardian and more importantly, a loving husband to his wife and a loving father to his own children.

There are only three of them, two boys and a girl, and the girl has the same spark as Rose.

"Granna! Granpa! Look what I found!" She cries, running over and showing them the caterpillar she found.

Rose smiles at her. "Very nice, sweetheart."

Dimitri presses a kiss to her forehead. "That's wonderful, _vnuchka_. Go show your papa."

She runs off, her long brown hair flapping behind her.

Rose refuses to be called Babushka, because 'it reminds her of Yeva, that old witch who made Rose's life miserable on purpose up until the day she finally kicked the bucket, and Rose won't have her grandchildren calling her the same thing as that mean old cow'. Or so she puts it. Dimitri just laughs whenever she explains it to anyone.

Dimitri wraps his arm around Rose and pulls her into his side, pressing a kiss to her temple. He takes her hand and begins to absently play with her wedding ring.

"Still think it was a good idea to marry me?" Rose teases.

"Of course, Roza," he says, bringing her hand to his lips. "It was the best idea I'd ever had."

Rose examines their clasped hands, scarred and callused. Together they've weathered many storms. Rose has a patch of skin on her hand that is forever damaged, where a Strigoi caught her with a hot coal while she and Dimitri were on a camping trip in North Dakota. Dimitri's missing the tip of his left pinkie, where it had been sliced off during a knife fight with some rogue guardians. Rose still has the scars over her heart from when Tasha shot her, and Dimitri has similar ones from when Lissa staked him as a Strigoi and brought him back to life.

They have been to hell and back for each other, navigating their fights, troubles, doubts, fears, and trials with love that only grew with time.

Their love has been tested on many occasions, but it is strong. They beat the odds, against everyone's doubts, and they triumphed together.

They won.

_Sometimes love is a white flag, sometimes love is standing tall. Sometimes love is a feather, sometimes a cannon ball. But it's worth fighting for, Baby, sometimes love is war…_

They still have their fights, being a quarrelsome old couple. She is still just as stubborn and he is still just as patient, but patience often wears thin after awhile, where stubbornness does not, and they inevitably butt heads.

They always make up, of course, both being able to apologize and work through it.

It is usually Rose who comes to him, bearing the white flag, because it is usually her who causes the arguments. Dimitri always accepts her apology and apologizes himself, because that's what you do when you're in love.

Some days, they argue about who used up the milk, and others they argue about whose turn it is to take out the garbage.

Luka comes by to check on them, to make sure the chores get done, because Dimitri has acquired Rose's stubborn manners over the years and sometimes nothing gets done if Luka does not intervene.

But that is love, sometimes it is war.

_Sometimes love is all that can save us, sometimes love can kill a man, sometimes love is a soft touch, sometimes love is a pistol in your hand…_

In the end, Dimitri dies for Rose.

The first time she had died from Tasha's bullet, Dimitri thought there wasn't any other pain on earth that could compare to his pain, watching her die.

He was wrong. He has to watch her die twice, and when it is their time to go, she passes first.

He wishes it were him.

The day that she passes, he is right there beside her, holding her hand and pressing a kiss to her forehead. She smiles weakly up at him, whispering her last words to him and only for him, _I love you Comrade. See you on the other side_.

And two days later, Dimitri goes too, his heart and soul tied forever to Rose's, following her to the grave as he would have followed her to the ends of the earth. There is nothing for him left if she is gone. Luka is grown and has his own family to take care of, so Dimitri dies unburdened. He knows Luka can take care of them all. He is so much like his father.

And when Dimitri gets to the edge, he sees her waiting there for him, young and beautiful like she had once been, and he is suddenly just as young and just as beautiful.

She takes his hand, and together they step into the unknown.

_Sometimes love is a white flag, sometimes love is standing tall. Sometimes love is a feather, sometimes a cannon ball. But it's worth fighting for, Baby, sometimes love is war…_

Two gravestones stand side by side, casting shadows on the green lawn as the sun sets over the horizon.

The first says: **Rosemary Hathaway Belikov, beloved mother, wife, and guardian.**And beneath those words, are the words **_Sometimes love is war_**.

The second stone says: **Dimitri Belikov, beloved father, husband, and guardian. **And like the first, it has words under it too – **_But it's worth fighting for._**

And if there were any phrase to describe Rose and Dimitri Belikov, it would be that.

**_Sometimes love is war, but it's worth fighting for._**

**First of all: I wrote this, then my Word quit on me and I LOST almost the entire chapter so I had to rewrite it, and it was brilliant the first time around and this one isn't so good. Sigh. But yes,'vnuchka' is granddaughter in Russian. And if anyone speaks Russian, I would love some help with these words: son, father, mother, grandmother, grandfather, daughter, grandson, and granddaughter. Just the regular family words, or words of affection such as 'sweetheart', 'love', 'honey', etc. **

**I'm hesitant to go onto Google translate because it can mess up the grammar ridiculously! Thanks! Your help is appreciated!**

**Wow 2 reviews within a day of posting? Thanks guys! Special thanks to those two reviewers, ShadowhuntingDhampir2014 and ladora! Your reviews were so nice! And ShadowhuntingDhampir2014, yes, I will do another drabble about Rose and Dimitri's baby. **

**So, to tide you all over, here are some mini spoilers:**

**-They will have a son named Luka**

**-He will fall in love with a Moroi (look for that in the songfic Mary's Song, coming soon) I'm not giving away her name, because it will be too big of a hint!**

**I'm doing all the drabbles in a sort of pattern now, going JillxEddie, LissaxChristian, RosexDimitri, and finally SydneyxAdrian. So in case anyone was wondering when the next drabble of their OTP would be, just check the pattern! **

**Next random question:**

**You're on a deserted island, but good news! You get to have your celebrity crush, your favorite book/movie/TV/other character, and ****_one_**** building material with you (duct tape, wood, plastic, brick, glass, or cloth). So which two people and material do you choose to have?**


	24. Thieves in the Night PT 1 -Sydney Adrian

**In which this is an AU.**

**The Characters**

**-Sydney Sage as the Robin Hood of the kingdom, known as 'Burning Sage'**

**-Adrian Ivashkov as the casual thief, known as 'Silver-tongued Bandit'**

**The Setting**

**One dark and stormy night, a rich traveller, Lord Keith, rides through Sagewood Forest, named for the thief that waits in the undergrowth. Burning Sage is her name, a clever thief who blazes through a job like wildfire, quick and devastating, taking from the rich to feed the poor.**

**She's also got an agenda against Lord Keith. He assaulted her sister, and refused to confess. And of course, no one knows she's a girl.**

**When she sets to rob the lord, she finds someone has already beaten her to the punch, a man with emerald green eyes and a charming smile and a tongue so smooth it could be made of silver. He is the Silver-tongued Bandit, known for talking his victims into agreeing with him.**

**The Twist**

**They are both being hunted by the Sherriff Zmey, by order of King Jared. The Sherriff is to return Sage to her father, where she faces being forced into an arranged marriage, and kill the Silver-tongued Bandit once and for all.**

**The Questions**

**Can they escape Sherriff Zmey and King Jared and leave Sagewood Forest behind for new lives? Can Sage bear to abandon all the people in the town of Alchemy? Can the Silver-tongued Bandit run from his past?**

**WHY AM I ASKING SO MANY QUESTIONS?  
Find out in this new drabble: Thieves in the Night**

She heard the carriage before she saw it.

They had been tracking it for days, watching its journey towards the town of Alchemy.

Finally. Revenge would be hers. And some nice loot to distribute among the poor in the town.

"Eddie!" she hissed at her right hand man, hiding in the trees. "Do you see them?"

"Yes ma'am. They're fast approaching the bend in the road, by the river."

"Excellent. Ian!" she called to another man in her little band of thieves. "Get ready! You and Lee get to the bridge and when the carriage passes by, distract them."

Ian nodded while Lee rolled his eyes. "We _know_," he grumbled.

Before he could react, she had her bow and arrow pointing at his chest. "Is there a problem, Lee?"

He shook his head, backing away slowly. "No, ma'am, I mean, _sir_."

"Damn right." She lowered her weapon. "Now _get over there_."

They both saluted and disappeared silently into the trees.

Moonlight glinted through the trees as the wind rushed through the forest, the gentle scrunch of the falling autumn leaves was the only sound to be heard.

Sage had trained her little band of Merry Men well. They were silent, quick, and clever, although she was the cleverest of all. They didn't even mind that she was a woman. No one else knew what she was, not even the very people whose lives she worked so hard to save.

Of course, her men could also be mouthy, Lee and Eddie especially. Eddie was the teasing sort, while Lee was actually the impertinent one. But no one complained or disrespected her; they knew that if they caused trouble, she could kill them before they had the chance to beg for mercy.

"It's here! Just around the bend!" Eddie whispered, frantically shimmying down the trunk and landing lithely on the forest floor.

"Let's move out, then," Sage said. "I promised the Beech's that they would have enough money to buy new shoes for all seven kids by tonight."

Eddie nodded, and they raced off into the forest.

As they approached, they noticed a few things. One: Lee and Ian weren't in their positions. Two, the carriage had been tipped on its side. And three, the inhabitant, Lord Keith, was being pinned to the ground underneath a stranger's boot.

"Eddie, go get Ian and Lee," she whispered.

"I'm not leaving you," he argued back.

"I need backup, and one of us will have to go get them."

"I'll stay. You go."

She glared at him. "Edison, _who_ is the leader?"

"You…" he trailed off.

"Yes. And _whose _revenge needs to be put to rest?"

"Yours," he grunted. Eddie didn't think revenge was a wise concept. Neither did Sage, but she made an exception.

"Right. Now, _go_. Before I put this through your eye." She shook her bow at him menacingly.

He sighed and nodded, melting into the shadows.

Sage stepped out of the shelter of the trees and approached the stranger. "Who are you?" She asked coldly.

The stranger appraised her with rich green eyes. "Who wants to know?"

In a flash, Sage had an arrow knocked and her bow leveled at his chest. "I asked you a question."

"And I answered." His gaze was unwavering.

She drew back the arrow. "Don't make me repeat myself."

He raised his hands to his shoulders. "Take it easy. I'm just here for the money."

"What a coincidence. Me too. _And_, I'm here for him." She gestures with her head to the stranger underneath his boot.

"And pray tell, why are you so interested in this lord? Isn't his money enough?"

"That's none of your concern," she snapped. "Fine. I'll make you a deal. Give me him and half the loot and the rest is all yours."

"I don't think so," he tapped his chin thoughtfully, blatantly ignoring the arrow pointed at his chest. "How about I give you him and I get _all_ the loot?"

She drew the arrow back even further. "Keep that up and this is the _only_ thing you'll get."

"You wouldn't."

She let it fly, purposely missing his chest and instead the arrow grazed his shoulder. There was a tearing of cloth.

"That was a warning," Sage said. "Now. Give me the lord and you get three quarters; nothing more, nothing less."

The stranger shrugged. "Seems fair." He took his boot off of the lord's back, and he made to spring, but Sage fired an arrow that sank into his pant leg, fastening the cloth into the ground.

"Don't move, or this is going through your stomach," she warned.

"You're quite liberal with those, aren't you?" the stranger asked.

"Shut up," she whirled on him. "It's bad enough that you're here. This job was mine."

"Well too late, little girl. I got here first."

Her eyes narrowed. "What did you say?"

"Little girl. You're a girl… aren't you?" he peered through the darkness, eyes probing her face.

Sage didn't say anything. She didn't know how he had managed it. She had tied her hair back, wrapped her chest…

"If you're wondering how, I know, well, your face is too pretty for a boy's."

She had half a mind to knock another arrow. "Careful, stranger. Words like those can get you hurt."

"What? By a little girl?" he grinned at her.

"_Don't_ call me that."

"What would you prefer, then? Sweetheart? How about little wildcat? You fight like one." He stopped and took in her appearance, as for the first time. The ragged dark green clothing, fit for camouflage in the forest, the weapons that didn't match. He even noticed her boots, the ones that were two sizes too big. "Who _are_ you, anyway?"

"That's none of your concern-"

"Sage!" a voice called, and she winced as Ian ran up, sword out.  
"Stand down, Ian," she called. "He's not a threat. For now." She shot him a glare saying _I will deal with you and your abandonment of your post later_. He swallowed anxiously.

"Sage?" The man stepped back, eyes wide. "As in 'Burning Sage'? _The_ Burning Sage?"

"Who else?"

"I had no idea Sage was a _girl_."

She shook her head, disgusted. "Just take your bit of the money and go."

Ian was watching the exchange with a puzzled expression. "Sage… Sir… who is this?"

The stranger bowed. "The name is the Silver-tongued Bandit."

"Oh, you're the one who talks the people into giving you their things."

"The one and only."

Sage was not impressed. "Lee! Ian! Get our part of the money, and Eddie and I will take care of _him_." She nodded to Lord Keith.

"I beg you, please, spare me," he whimpered.

She pulled out a knife and leaned down, and carefully whispered in his ear. "I'll bet my sister begged you for mercy the same way, and if you weren't kind enough to grant it to her, then I'm certainly not going to grant it to you."

**TO BE CONTINUED!**

**So, what do you guys think? Do you like the mini stories I have going within this drabble and ficlet collection? Would you like to see more regular dribbles and less stories? Let me know, please, and any ideas for drabbles? Send them in!**

**Holy cow four reviews within a day of posting? You guys rock! Thanks to those four: Lizzie, David Fishwick, Guest, and Hannah! Your reviews were so kind and I appreciate them all! I LIVE off of your reviews. Lots of feelings in that chapter, I know, but I wanted to do their relationship justice. Sorry for making you guys cry!**

**Missing Part 3 will be up soon after this, and then a Chrissa fic, then the Romitri Test Tubes and Babies part 2, and then a Sydrian fic.**

**Question of the day: would you rather be able to read everyone's minds OR know their future?**


	25. Christian Ozera:Private Eye-Lissa&Chris

**AU in which Christian Ozera is a classic hard-boiled detective. He pounds doors and takes names, shoots first and asks questions later. He's aided by his trusty partner, Lissa Dragomir. They've just gotten their latest assignment: a forlorn girl walks in, reporting her boyfriend missing. Can Detective Ozera and Miss Dragomir crack the case?**

**Christian's POV for this one. And pretend Rose and Abe aren't related at all.**

_Christian Ozera: Private Eye  
Lissa Dragomir: Assistant_

The letters glared at me from the frosted window of my door as I finished stenciling them on. Satisfied, I leaned back to appraise my work.

"Don't you think it's a bit cliché? And _assistant? Really?_"

That was Lissa, my partner when it came to solving cases. She was an ace investigator, despite her being a dame.

"Doesn't matter, doll face," I quipped, pushing through the door into my office. "It's not a cliché, and you know how Stan feels about you helping me on cases."

She rolled her jade green eyes. "The same way he feels about Rose helping Dimitri. But does that stop them? No."

Dimitri Belikov was an officer on the police force, and his boss, Stan, was the chief. However, Stan wasn't _my_ boss. I was lucky enough not to be tied to the police force officially. I just solved cases for them, getting nothing in return except for a cold handshake and maybe a warm beer. But hey, that's all in a day's work for a private eye.

Rose was Lissa's best friend and girlfriend to Belikov. He was a decent guy, calm, rational, but Rose was nothing but trouble, with a capital T. That dame went looking for trouble and she found it, not that she needed to look hard. With her stubborn and pushy attitude, she pissed off gangsters and Stan alike. I never knew how Dimitri handled her.

Lissa was the opposite. She was sweet and gentle, which was helpful when we needed to interview clients or suspects who were in a delicate emotional state. Lissa also had this knack for pulling secrets out of people without them even knowing what they were giving away. It helped that she was so pretty, too.

I was rough, tough, and mean, and I didn't care. Chasing shifty guys down dark streets and into even darker alleys, doing sketchy trade offs at midnight, and interrogating punks was my game. I never let Lissa come with me on those errands, but she always managed to sneak her way into my plans, and _always_ getting herself into compromising situations.

Luckily, I had taught her how to shoot and fight, and her angelic appearance always misled any unscrupulous characters. She was more than just my assistant; she was my partner.

I sat down behind my desk and Lissa leaned against it, tucking her blonde hair back behind her ear. "Quite frankly, I don't give a damn what Stan says," she continued. "He can go to hell."

"I'm sure he'd love to hear you say that. Why don't you go tell him," I said, amused.

Lissa rolled her eyes again and shifted through the paperwork on my desk. "Aren't you going to sort through this?"

"Well, that's generally what an assistant does," I shoved aside some papers and reached for a cigarette. I offered her one, but she shook her head disdainfully.

"I'm not sorting through _your_ paperwork. You're the private eye here."

"Alright, sweetheart, then you can go re-stencil the door and deal with Stan later."

Before she had the chance, the door swung open and a girl walked in. She was about five foot seven, blonde hair, brown eyes. Not bad looking of course, but no one could compare to Lissa.

She removed her hat and stood tall. "Are you Christian Ozera?"

"Who wants to know?" I retorted.

Lissa smacked me in the back of the head and walked forward, ushering the girl in. "Yes, he's Christian Ozera. He's also a smartass. I'm Lissa Dragomir, his partner. What can we help you with?"

The girl took a seat. "My name is Sydney Sage, and my fiancé Adrian has been missing for two weeks now. I need you to find him."

I leaned forward. A case, just what I needed. "You do know that you can report him as a missing person to the police first, right, sweetheart? I'm sure they'll help ya."

She shook her head. "The police can't be involved."

Lissa closed the door and took her seat beside me, fingers already flying on her typewriter. "Do you mind if I type this? To have a record of your case?"

Sydney sighed. "As long as no one in the police department can see it."

Lissa nodded. "It will be treated with full confidentiality, I assure you."

Sydney nodded and began her story. "Alright then. My fiancé is Adrian Ivashkov. He's involved in an underground bootlegging ring. He doesn't deal with dirty money, he just supplies the booze and gets paid for it for every pint he delivers."

She waited for Lissa to type it out. "And who does he work with?" Lissa asked.

Sydney bit her lip and toyed with the edge of her hat nervously. "A gangster named Abe Mazur. Both Adrian and I have history with him. I hired him to… visit… someone, and I owe him a favor. Adrian got mixed into his gang activities because of me."

This case was shaping up to be more dangerous than a pit of snakes, and twice as venomous. Abe 'Zmey' Mazur was a notorious gangster, called 'Zmey' because of his Turkish roots and the name literally meant 'snake'. He was more dangerous than a copperhead, cobra, and rattlesnake all rolled into one. Those who got involved with Zmey rarely lived to see their next birthday. Speaking of which…

"What exactly was your fiancé doing the night he went missing?" I asked.

"Same as he always does once every month: bringing more alcohol to the drop off zone. He never tells me where he goes specifically. He went out around seven o'clock, and was supposed to be back by nine. He never came home." She bit her lip.

"And why did you wait two weeks to come forward?" I asked. "Why not come here the day after he went missing?"

Lissa's fingers were flying. They were no doubt going to be stained with ink by the end of the meeting.

"Sometimes Zmey sends him on errands that can go from three to seven days, sometimes even longer. I thought this was one of them. But then last night, I got this in the mail."

She delved into her pocketbook and produced a note. "There was no address or name on it. Just my name on front."

I took the note and unfolded it.

_Sydney,_

_Things are unstable at the moment. Will not be home for awhile. I've sent a package after this note, and it should arrive within a day of this. DO NOT open it. _

_Stay safe._

_Lots of love, _

_Adrian_

"Adrian didn't send that note. He never gives my name in notes he sends me when on business. And he usually signs them 'Jet Steele', not his real name."

I raised an eyebrow. "Jet Steele?"

She shrugged. "He likes to use it as a pseudonym. _I_ think it's ridiculous."

"And the package?" Lissa asked, pausing her rapid typing. "Has it arrived yet?"

Sydney shook her head. "No, I have no idea what it could be. My first thought was alcohol, but no one is stupid enough to mail alcohol, especially during this damn prohibition."

"Your fiancé struggles with prohibition?" I asked. "Is he a big drinker?"

Sydney nodded. "That's part of why Zmey brought him into his gang. Zmey needed a guy who was motivated enough to get booze for himself, and with the right persuasion, he got booze for everybody."

I set the note down and steepled my fingers. "Miss Sage, I'm going to be frank here. I suspect foul play in your fiancé's disappearance. It could be gang related, or he's just hiding from the police. But I think it's gang related. His life could be in grave danger, so when you get the package, do _not_ open it."

She nodded, took a deep breath, and stood to go. "Thank you, Detective Ozera, Miss Dragomir."

"We'll be in touch," Lissa assured her. "And it's dark out, you seem uncomfortable. I'll go ask Officer Belikov if he'd walk you to your car."

"Oh, that's not necessary-"

"I insist," Lissa smiled. That was just like Lissa, to read someone so easily even they didn't know what they were feeling.

In no time, she had twisted Dimitri's arm into walking Sydney to her car, and made her way into my office. I had kept the note, and I was studying it closely.

"I know the first place to look," I said to Lissa. "To scrounge for clues."

"And that is?"

"The docks. Only the shadiest figures go there to do shady business."

Lissa grinned. "It's getting late then. We'd better get started."

**I know, I know. This is out of order. But Missing Part 3 is coming along a bit slowly, so here is a nice Chrissa drabble to tide you all over.**

**This isn't going to be a continued ficlet, just a little one-shot drabble (but I'll do another private eye one, if someone gives me an idea for another case for Christian and Lissa!). Christian would make the BEST private eye! Maybe I'll do a western with Dimitri, yes?**

**This takes place in about 1930. Prohibition was around that time, or maybe it was more twenties? I don't know. Just think of Christian as Humphrey Bogart and everything should be fine. Christian is your average shady private eye.**

**Thank you Lizzie and David Fishwick for reviewing the previous chapter! And the rest of you, review or else Christian might have to come round and take names and ask questions… O.O**


	26. Missing PART 3 - Jill and Eddie

When Jill awoke, she was alone in her dark room. She breathed, and then all the feelings and memories and emotions came rushing back.

Only a few hours ago, had she been given the news that her guardian/best friend/potential boyfriend had been turned Strigoi, and her other best friend had been taken by the very people she was working for.

Jill bolted up and vomited, right on the expensive Persian carpet. Her stomach roiled and her head ached. _Adrian_, she realized. The bond was numb, but she felt like she had been doing shots with full bottles of vodka, not just tiny glasses.

_Oh my God, Adrian!_ She pushed back the covers and stood shakily. There was no way in hell that Adrian would be taking Sydney's capture in good spirits. She winced at the double pun. And then she winced again with every step she took.

She almost fell back in bed, feeling the crushing weight of Eddie's 'death'. She wanted nothing more than to curl back up and cry herself to sleep again, but her worry over Adrian's health prompted her to swallow down the sobs and go to him.

When she exited her bedroom and entered her main rooms, she saw Rose and Lissa sitting on the couch, talking quietly.

"Jill! Get back in that bed!" Rose chided gently. "I think you need to sleep."

She shook her head. "I think Adrian's in trouble."

"He can't be. I got all the liquor out of his room."

"Did you check his closet, underneath his boxers?"

"No," Rose stared at her, baffled. "Why would I – _oh._ Dammit. A secret stash."

Jill nodded miserably. "He's probably passed out. I have an awful headache."

Lissa gently guided her sister to the couch. "Stay here. Rose will check on him."

"No! He needs _me!_"

Lissa frowned. "Jill-"

"Who understands you better than your bond mate?" Jill challenged. Grief churned within her, making her lash out like a wounded animal. "And he and I both lost someone we loved today."

"Jill, everybody loved Eddie and Sydney-"

"Not like Adrian loves Sydney! What if it were Christian that was missing?"

Lissa sighed.

"Because that's how Adrian feels, and that's how _I_ feel!" Jill practically shouted at her sister. Tears sprung back into her eyes and she wiped them angrily away.

Lissa's brow furrowed in concern, but Rose smiled a knowing smile, one tinged with sadness.

"Liss, let her come with me. She's been asleep for a while." Rose sighed. "You remember how you needed me back when we had the bond."

Lissa nodded after a moment. "But… Jill, you're _sure_ you're okay?"

She wasn't. She was barely holding it together, willing the tears not to leak out. Eddie's absence was already a gaping hole.

Some mornings, she would walk out into her main rooms and he'd be asleep on the couch, not bothering to go back to his rooms after his shift. Others, he'd be gone and her other guardian would take over, but he wouldn't be gone for too long, always ready to take over later in the day.

He was always the one constant thing she had, always with her while Lissa was in meetings doing queen stuff and Adrian was either taking art classes or with Sydney. Angeline had elected to go back to the Keepers, and Trey had surprised them all by following her back to the Keeper community. His reasoning was that the Warriors were never really the best choice for him anyhow.

Jill was virtually alone all the time, except for Eddie's constant and welcome presence.

Now she was alone for real.

She squared her shoulders and took a shaky breath. "Adrian needs me."

Lissa nodded and Jill allowed Rose to lead her down the hall to Adrian's rooms.

He was lying on his bed when they entered, eyes bloodshot and he smelled strongly of alcohol.

"Adrian," Jill murmured, crawling onto it beside him.

He stared at her blindly. "Hey, Jailbait," he croaked. "How are you?"

She shook her head.

He laughed mirthlessly. "Me too. And I drank all my stash."

Jill sighed. She didn't feel like busting him just that second.

"Adrian," Rose said gently. "Is that all of it?"

He shrugged, and Rose didn't push him. "Do you guys need anything?"

"Just some water," Jill murmured. "For both of us."

Rose nodded and hurriedly backed out of the room.

Adrian rolled over to face Jill. "I can't reach her," his voice was raw, his eyes were wild. "I've been trying all night and I can't get through."

"Maybe she's not sleeping?"

"No, she's got to be."

"Adrian, have _you_ slept?"

He didn't answer and Jill brushed his hair back from his face, as a mother would with a child. "Adrian. You need to sleep. The bond's gone numb with alcohol."

"I drank all my stash when I couldn't reach her," Adrian confessed. "And now I can't touch the spirit."

"Exactly why you need sleep," Jill said. "You need to heal."

Adrian smiled at her bitterly. "It doesn't matter anymore, Jailbait. Nothing does without Sydney."

Just then, Rose entered carrying two glasses of water and aspirin for both of them. "Drink _all_ of that water, Adrian," Rose said. "And I mean _all_ of it."

"Haven't I drunk enough, Little Dhampir?"

Rose rolled her eyes and gave Jill a sympathetic look. "Do you need anything?"

She shook her head. "I'll stay here with Adrian."

Rose nodded and turned to go, but paused. "Jill… Eddie's funeral is going to be tomorrow. I know it's so soon but… we felt it would be best."

Jill bit her lip as fresh waves of grief washed over her. She swallowed a few times before answering. "What… what time?"

"Noon. Lissa wanted to know if you wanted to give the eulogy."

Jill nodded wordlessly.

Rose gently enfolded the girl into a hug. "I'm sorry," she whispered. "I miss him too."

"I can't believe he's Strigoi," Jill let the dam break and tears leaked out onto Rose's shoulder. "He's not a monster. He could _never_ be like them."

"I know, sweetie," Rose said, wiping her own tears away.

"He wouldn't have wanted this. He'd rather be dead," Jill sobbed.

Rose pulled back to look at Jill. "Jill, I _swear_. I will go and… you know. Free him. Let him move on."

Jill sniffed. "Thank you, Rose. That means a lot."

"It's the least I could do for him. He's done so much for me." Rose took a shuddering breath. "Kinda crazy how this isn't the first loved one I've had to go stake, huh?"

Jill didn't laugh but wiped the tears from her face and sat back down next to Adrian's limp form. "Thank you, Rose."

Rose nodded. "You sure you're okay here?"

"Yeah. I'll watch Adrian."

"Okay. Just call if you need anything." Rose disappeared through the door.

Jill sighed and flopped down next to Adrian, curling into a miserable ball. At least he had finally fallen asleep, and she watched his chest gently rise and fall with each breath.

She closed her eyes and lay there, too.

"Jill. I have an idea." Adrian's voice caused her to open her eyelids and stare at him.

"You should be sleeping."

Adrian sat up, brushing her off. "No, _listen_. I have an idea. I think we can save Eddie."

"Adrian-"

"No, hear me out, Jill," Adrian grabbed her hand. "I can charm a stake and use it to bring him back."

Jill wanted so badly to agree. She could have Eddie back. On the other hand, that much spirit… Adrian was already unstable, and she didn't want to send him over the edge. "Adrian, what if it's too much?"

"It won't be, because Sydney will be there to help."

_Now_ he was talking crazy. "Adrian… Sydney's in a reeducation center."

"Not for long." Adrian grinned, his eyes green eyes glinting faintly. "We're going to break her out."

"_How_?"

"I may not have been _sleeping_, but I was in a spirit dream just now. With Sydney. She's in a center somewhere in Maine. And we're going to break her out."

Jill was shaking her head. "Adrian, this is crazy. _No_. We're_ not_ going to break Sydney out. It's impossible."

"Bringing you back to life was impossible, and yet here you are right in front of me."

"We don't have any resources or tools for this. It's probably a high security prison."

"We have my magic and yours. A little compulsion on my part, a little water magic on yours, and presto! Cameras are down, guards are unconscious and Sydney is free."

"No. This is the spirit talking. You need to go back to sleep."

"But Jill, if this works… we can bring Eddie back, good as new. And you can finally tell him how you feel."

"_Don't_ use Eddie as a bargaining chip!" Jill cried, eyes flashing. "This is stupid, and you know it! We're underprepared, and… and…" she broke down crying again. "And, I want to see Eddie again _so badly_. But if it puts you in danger…"

"Jill, if Sydney's there, then I _won't_ be. She can do some witchy magic and help me out a bit. And Lissa recovered just fine from when she turned Dimitri back." Adrian gently draped an arm around Jill's shoulders. "Jill. Sydney's in trouble and I _need_ to help her. In her dream she seemed so scared…" he faltered. "And I can do something about it. I can get her out, and after we do, we can bring Eddie back."

Jill wiped her eyes again. "But _how_? How do we get in? Our magic isn't going to cut it."

Adrian chewed his lip, thinking. "We can call Zmey."

"Who?"

"Rose's father. He's a Moroi mobster and he owes me for saving Rose's life two years ago. He might owe her too. They have history. And how could he say no to a request from the Dragomir Princess, let alone a friend of his daughter's?"

"What could he do?"

"He has connections _everywhere_. He'll think of something."

Jill was too shocked to be grieved now. "Okay, so let's say he somehow gets us in, but how do we get her out? We'd have to hide ourselves and Sydney from the Alchemists, and we have no idea where Eddie is. And I think people would notice if _I_ were gone!"

Adrian was quiet a moment, his eyes darkening, but they brightened again as inspiration came. "You can say you're so upset over Eddie that you want to go home. I'll go with you, and we ditch the guardian and head for Maine. We can meet one of Abe's guys on the way there. He'd have tools, blueprints… we could decide on a plan then, and execute it."

"What about Strigoi we could encounter on the run?" Dread filled Jill as she realized that one of the Strigoi they came across could very well be Eddie. And she'd have to fight him.

"We'll travel during the day, and I guess we could bring a Dhampir guard with us."

Jill sighed and shook her head. "Who? Rose is busy with Lissa, Dimitri's with Christian."

"Not them, obviously. They'd try to stop us. What about… your other guardian?"

"Kyle? Nope. He's so stiff with protocol, like Neil was. What about Mikhail?"

"He's with Sonya and their kid." Adrian rubbed his eyes. "I don't think he'd be enthusiastic about leaving them."

Jill shrugged. "Unless Abe knows some Dhampirs who are willing to work with us-"

"I got it!" Adrian cried. "How far away are the Keepers from Maine?"

"How would I know? Why do you want the Keepers?"

"Because, Jailbait, we _can_ find some Dhampirs to help us. Well, at least a Dhampir and an ex-Warrior."

"Angeline and Trey?" Jill asked.

"Yes. They're Eddie _and_ Sydney's friends. They'd both be willing to help out. I'll send Trey and Angeline a spirit dream right now."

As Adrian lay down, Jill did too, resting her head on his shoulder. "You know… this just might work."

And she felt a little spark of hope flutter in her chest.

**WHO'S SEEN THE VA MOVIE? I'M GOING THIS WEEKEND AND I'M SO EXCITED. I've heard great things about it and I CAN'T WAIT to see Danila as Dimitri!**

**And another view from Lizzie! Thank you! And thank you, ShadowHuntingDhamphir2014! And you other guys… REVIEW! Please! Reviews mean faster updates. Love it, or not, or whatever you feel, let me know! And I'm sorry about the quality of this drabble. I know it's not my best. My writing hasn't been very good since winter started. It's seasonal depression: s And I KNOOOW this took me FOREVER. Sorry!**


	27. Test Tubes and Babies P2 - Rose&Dimitri

It had been a few weeks after their visit to the fertility doctor, and Rose was going back for egg harvesting.

Lissa had agreed to come along, and wrinkled her nose at the term. "It sounds like you've been abducted by aliens or something and they need to experiment with human babies."

"Except I'd have to _be_ human for that to be true," Rose retorted as she turned into the parking lot.

Dimitri was stuck on guardian duty for Christian, and he made Lissa promise to look after Rose while she was in surgery.

"Dimitri's worried," Lissa said, getting out of the car.

Rose rolled her eyes and locked the car behind them before heading into the building. "I knew he would be. I _told_ him I'd be fine, but he still doubts me. I'm a twenty three year old woman, for crying out loud! You'd think I was going into a building chock full of Strigoi without a stake, the way he's been carrying on."

Lissa laughed. "It's sweet of him. He just wants to make sure everything goes well."

Rose sighed and rolled her eyes, but smiled. "It is. But he's still a huge dork."

"But he's _your_ dork."

Rose checked in and waited with Lissa for the doctor. Rose had brought a sample of Dimitri's sperm for the nurse.

Dimitri had been slightly embarrassed when he handed her the little bottle, but she had just laughed and kissed him on the cheek. "You want this kid, right?" she joked. "Well, you gotta come through!"

Lissa sat quietly with Rose, and Rose knew why. A few months ago, Lissa had miscarried and lost her and Christian's first child. She was probably thinking of it just then.

Rose poked Lissa in the side and leaned over to give her a hug. "Thanks for coming with me," she said. "I appreciate it, after all you've been through."

Lissa smiled a little sadly and nodded. "You're my best friend. What kind of bitch would I be if I _wasn't_ here right now?"

Rose laughed into her friend's shoulder. "Oh, Liss, you could never be a bitch, not even if you tried."

"Rosemary Belikov?" The nurse called. "The doctor will see you now."

Rose took a breath and Lissa gave her a comforting hug, and Rose followed the nurse down the hall.

She changed into a hospital gown, and they prepared her for surgery.

"Now, Mrs. Belikov, we'll just be harvesting eggs from your ovaries," the doctor said as the anesthesia was administered. "It's a simple procedure, nothing to worry about."

Rose nodded faintly as everything faded to black.

When Rose awoke, she was sore and tired. She turned her head to see Lissa beaming at her from a chair beside her bed.

The doctor rushed in to check her stats. "You're looking great, Mrs. Belikov. We got a few of your eggs, and we'll work on getting the zygote to form in the labs. When it's ready, we can bring you back in to reinsert it in your uterus."

Rose blinked lazily at her and nodded.

Lissa laughed. "I'll bring you up to speed after the anesthesia wears off."

Rose nodded again. "Sounds like a good idea," she mumbled, almost drunkly.

When they got home, Dimitri was just arriving with Christian, and he anxiously looked over his tired wife. "How is she?"

"Fine," Lissa answered. "The surgery went well. They'll call back when the zygote thing is ready to go back in her uterus."  
Dimitri winced inwardly at the mentions of the female anatomy. Christian wasn't so subtle.

"Liss!" He whined. "Come on! I just had lunch!"

"What, are you afraid of the world _uterus_?"

Christian pressed his hand to his ears. "I didn't hear that."

"Christian, grow up. I have one. Rose has one. Every female on the planet has one."

Christian's face was turning a tad green, and Dimitri felt just as green. Lissa rolled her eyes at her husband and his guardian. "Right then. Well, I'm going do some queen stuff."

Christian followed her down the hall like a puppy that had just been kicked. "Liss, come on, don't be mad…"

Dimitri shook his head as the last words of their conversation floated away and helped Rose inside the apartment and into bed. After he tucked her in, he stood to leave, but she grabbed his hand. "No. Stay."

He doesn't hesitate to kick off his shoes and slide in next to her, exhausted from his own day.

Wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close, Dimitri breathes a sigh of

contentment, and soon both husband and wife were asleep.

They got the phone call a week later: the zygote was a success, and it can be inserted into Rose's womb.

Rose dropped the phone and launched herself at Dimitri, and he catches her with ease, spinning her around the room.

"Ready to be a parent?" She whispered.

"_More_ than ready," he replied, smiling down at her and pressing a gentle kiss to her forehead.

When Rose went back for the surgery, Dimitri made sure to go with her. He anxiously paced the hall, waiting for the simple surgery to be completed.

Once she was wheeled out of the operating room and into a regular hospital room, he was able to breathe easy, and waited beside her for her to wake. The doctor kept her overnight, just in case, but she assured Dimitri that everything went well and she had high hopes for the couple.

He smiled and absently brushed hair from Rose's forehead as she slept on. He couldn't wait.

"This is it," Rose mumbled, staring at the tiny, white stick.

"Turn it over," Dimitri urged.

"I…" she put it down and turned to Dimitri, eyes suddenly tearful. "What if it didn't work?"

He ran his fingers through her hair gently. "Then we can try again. Or, they can do one in the lab."

Rose shook her head. "It wouldn't feel like _my_ child if we had one _grown_ in a _lab_."

"It would be ours no matter what, and that's what matters." Dimitri grabbed the stick. "But, let's cross that bridge when we get there. We have this to focus on."

Rose took a deep breath and nodded, squeezing his hand.

"On the count of three," he whispered. "One."

"Two."

"Three!" they said together, and Dimitri flipped over the stick.

Rose stared down in shock, her hands travelling to her stomach of their own accord. "Oh my…"

Dimitri stared at the pink plus sign before tossing it aside and pulled Rose into his chest, careful not to squeeze her _too_ hard.

Rose wasn't surprised to find she was crying. "I'm pregnant. I can't believe this."

Dimitri wiped the tears from her cheeks (after subtly wiping away a few of his own). "We're going to be parents." He peppered kisses down her face, on her lips, eyelids, cheeks, forehead, nose. "I love you Roza, so much."  
"I love you too," she smiled and wiped away the last of the tears. "I'm pregnant!" She cheered, laughing.

Dimitri didn't hesitate to press a kiss to her stomach. "Our miracle."

"Some miracle," Rose grumbled as she puked into the toilet bowl for the fifth time that morning. "You called this thing a miracle, but all it's doing is making me sick and fat!"

Dimitri patiently held her hair back. "Rose, you're beautiful."

She responded by throwing up more of the banana smoothie she had for breakfast.

According to the doctor, Rose was three months along and the morning sickness was starting to kick in. Turns out not only food made her stomach upset, but also bright light, loud sounds, not to mention smelly things…

Her stomach churned again, but it was finally, _thankfully_ empty, and Rose sighed and wiped her mouth. Dimitri wrapped an arm around her waist, lightly patting the barely visible baby bump.

"Whatever the hell it is, I guess it doesn't like bananas." Rose stood to rinse out her mouth, and Dimitri followed suit.

He wrinkled his nose. "It?"

"Fine. He?"

"He," Dimitri agreed. "_He_ doesn't like bananas."

"Or _she_," Rose said teasingly.

"Nah. He." Dimitri grinned at her. "It's a he."

"Would you like to know the baby's gender today?" the nurse asked, moving the wand around on Rose's enlarged stomach. She had gotten to the point where she was waddling everywhere, and her feet had swollen two sizes up.

She was in for her six month checkup, and everything was checking out fine.

"Yes," Rose said eagerly. She caught Dimitri's eye roll and rolled her own eyes at him. "You know I'm impatient and if I'm carrying this thing I would like to know what it is, thank you very much."

The nurse fiddled around a bit with the wand, until she found what she was looking for. "Well, congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Belikov. You're going to have a son."

Rose felt the tears prickling behind her eyes. It was one thing to know she was having a baby, but knowing the gender made everything seem so… _real_.

"Told you," Dimitri said triumphantly during the car ride home.

"Yeah, yeah, you win," she grumbled. "Now turn into that drive through. I want some French fries and a cinnamon roll thingy."

As it turns out, miracles can happen to more than one person at a time, because when Rose calls Lissa to tell her about the baby's gender, Lissa has some news of her own.

"I'm pregnant again!" Lissa cried.

"What? Really?" Rose gasped. "Liss, do you know for _sure_?" She didn't mention what had happened the previous pregnancy gone wrong.

"I'm sure," Lissa said confidently. "It's been three months, and a doctor's checked everything out and I'm okay. Nothing is going to happen to Alek."

"Alek?"

"Short for Aleksander. Christian and I picked out the name already."

"Liss, that's amazing." Rose gasped. "They could be classmates!"

Lissa laughed. "The Dream Team all over again."

"You know it. My kickass kid with _your_ brilliant kid, what could go wrong?"

"A million and one things," Lissa said matter of factly.

"We turned out alright," Rose protested.

Lissa just laughed at her best friend.

Rose sat up in bed, with an exclamation of "oh!" at three a.m.

Dimitri was awake in a flash. "Roza? What is it? What's wrong?"

"I'm fine," she said. "But I just realized: we haven't picked name!"

Dimitri flops backwards into bed, pulling the covers up. "Can we talk about this tomorrow?"

"No!" Rose said stubbornly. "This child has gone unnamed for eight months! We need to pick one, _now_."

Dimitri sighed, rubbing his eyes. "Alright, alright. What kind of name do you want?"

"I… I don't know," she admitted.

He barely suppressed a groan. "Kyle? Philip?"

Rose glared. "Be serious."

He wanted to reply that being serious was nearly impossible when it was three in the morning and she was riding the rollercoaster that was pregnancy hormones.

After a moment of silence, Rose suggested a name. "Luka? I heard it in Baia, and I liked it a lot."

Dimitri considered it. "Luka. Yeah, that's good. I like it too."

"I was thinking Ivan for a middle name."

Dimitri looked at her, a little shocked. "Ivan? That's alright with you?"

"Of course. He meant a lot to you."

Dimitri's arms encircle her enlarged waist in thanks. "He still does. Thank you, Roza."

"Luka Ivan Belikov." Rose hummed. "I like the sound of that."

"Me too."

"Well. Glad that's taken care of," Rose said briskly, and she promptly rolled over and went to sleep. Dimitri stared in disbelief, but threw an arm over her stomach and tucked his head into the crook of her neck. If she was asleep and they had avoided a fight, then he was all for it.

One month later, Rose sat up in bed again, but this time, she wakes Dimitri up too.

"Get up, dammit! Dimitri!" She shook him awake.

He sat bolt upright. "What is it, Roza?"

"I think Luka's on his way."

And sure enough, when she got out of bed, her water broke. And then the contractions hit.

She hissed in pain, squeezing Dimitri's arm as he scrambled off the bed to help her.

"Should I call Lissa?"

Rose nodded. "She'll want to get a Court physician and dammit, I don't care what she wants just-" she cried out as another contraction came.

Dimitri called Lissa in an instant, easing Rose back onto the bed.

And Lissa busted through the doors, slightly waddling because of _her_ large, six months pregnant belly, Christian and the Court doctor hot on her heels.

"Your Highness," the doctor said. "You're on strict bed rest orders until the birth of your own child. I advise you to go back to your rooms."

"But this is my guardian, my _best friend-_"

"Lissa," Rose grunted. "Get back in bed. Luka will be upset if he doesn't have a royal playmate to get into trouble with."

Christian had already grabbed Lissa's hand and was gently tugging her back to their rooms. "Come on, Liss. Dimitri's here, the doc's here, Rose is going to be fine."

Lissa tried to protest, but gave up and allowed Christian to lead her back to their rooms.

Rose lay back in bed as another contraction came and went, while the doctor did his check up and prep.

Finally, it was time to push.

"I hate you," she grunted at Dimitri as she squeezed his hand. "I hate you so _incredibly much _right now-"

"Keep it up," the doctor advised. "You're not long now-"

Rose shrieked and pushed and pushed and pushed, until finally…

An earsplitting cry rang through the air. Rose sagged back against the pillows, exhausted.

"Mr. and Mrs. Belikov," the doctor said, and Rose cracked open an eye. "Meet your son."

A blue bundle was placed in Rose's arms, and she pushed the blanket back to see a small, wrinkled face with dark hair and chocolate brown eyes. Dimitri's eyes.

He stared up at his parents, quiet and contemplative, and Rose almost laughed because he looked so much like Dimitri already, with one eyebrow quirked up.

She passed him to Dimitri, who began to quietly murmur in Russian to his son, and Rose rolled her eyes with a smile on her face. She laid back, exhausted.

She wasn't surprised to feel Dimitri slide in beside her, and they fell asleep, wrapped around each other and their new son, _finally_ a family.

**Well, here it is! Disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about this kind of process, so sorry for any inaccuracies! And if this chapter was absolutely blah, then sorry! I will do MUCH better next time.**

**Thank you again, Lizzie! No, haha, you don't need to send 5 reviews every chapter. I do love the encouragement and your enthusiasm though, and I appreciate it, so thank you! I'm just lazy and it takes me **_**forever**_** to get writing inspiration. And thank you to my other reviewer, Valover887! I appreciate the encouragement! **

**So, who saw the VA movie? I'm eager to hear your opinions. I thought it didn't do the books justice… **

_**READ THIS BIT! **_

**Here's the thing: I observe Lent (which is a Christian thing, in case anyone doesn't know what that is. During Lent, we give up something for roughly 40 days and nights before Easter. I'm not going to get into the technicalities about it, but Lent can be pretty strict.) SO, for Lent I'm giving up and , **_**but**_** I'll continue to write. So, you guys won't see me around for the next 46 days. Sorry! But Easter Sunday… I will be updating things like there is no tomorrow. So, until then, goodbye! **


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